Civilian Expulsions From South Lebanon Continuing

http://www.hrw.org/press/1999/nov/leb1110.htm

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Israel and The Occupied Territories: HRW World Report 1999 FREE    Join the HRW Mailing List

Civilian Expulsions From South Lebanon Continuing
Israel Breaching Geneva Conventions

            "Since 1985, hundreds if not thousands of Lebanese civilians have been ordered
             to leave their homes and villages without notice and with no means of appeal.
             They have been summarily dumped in a no man's land without any possessions
             save the clothes on their backs," said Hanny Megally, executive director of the
             Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "This cruel and illegal
            dispossession has destroyed the lives of innocent Lebanese families, and it must stop."

(New York, November 10, 1999) -- Despite recent international condemnation of the practice, summary expulsion of Lebanese men, women, and children from their homes and villages in Israeli-occupied south Lebanon continues. From October 25-26, Israel's auxiliary Lebanese militia, the South Lebanon Army (SLA), forcibly removed six Lebanese civilians, including an elderly man, and a woman and her two children, from the occupied zone.

Related Material
Letter to Prime Minister Barak
HRW Letter, November 1999
Civilians Summarily Expelled from Israeli-Occupied South Lebanon
HRW Release, July 1999
Persona Non Grata: The Expulsion of Civilians from Israeli-Occupied Lebanon
HRW Report, July 1999
Israel Responsible for Abuses in Khiam Prison
HRW Release, October 1999

"Since 1985, hundreds if not thousands of Lebanese civilians have been ordered to leave their homes and villages without notice and with no means of appeal. They have been summarily dumped in a no man's land without any possessions save the clothes on their backs," said Hanny Megally, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "This cruel and illegal dispossession has destroyed the lives of innocent Lebanese families, and it must stop."

Israel arms and finances the SLA, and thus bears ultimate responsibility under international humanitarian law for SLA actions in south Lebanon that violate the rights of the civilian population. The expulsions are grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and, as such, constitute war crimes, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Prime Minister Barak made public today.
Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention describes unlawful deportation or transfer of civilians as one of the acts that constitute a grave breach of the convention.
"Since 1985, hundreds if not thousands of Lebanese civilians have been ordered to leave their homes and villages without notice and with no means of appeal. They have been summarily dumped in a no man's land without any possessions save the clothes on their backs," said Hanny Megally, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "This cruel and illegal dispossession has destroyed the lives of innocent Lebanese families, and it must stop."
The Lebanese are forced to walk from the last SLA checkpoint in occupied Lebanon to the first Lebanese army checkpoint. From there, they seek shelter with family or friends in territory under the control of the Lebanese government, and attempt to rebuild their lives. They are entitled to receive a minimal, one-time financial assistance payment from the Lebanese government.
In a letter to Barak made public today, Human Rights Watch called on Israel to permit the return of expelled families under safe conditions, free of any form of coercion or intimidation by occupation security authorities.
Human Rights Watch said that Lebanese were expelled from the occupied zone because they refused to cooperate with occupation intelligence forces, because male relatives deserted or refused to join the SLA, and as collective punishment for known or suspected armed attacks by their relatives against Israeli and SLA military forces.
In July 1999, Human Rights Watch published a report about the expulsions, which have been carried out since 1985 with little publicity in Israel and internationally.

For more information:
In New York: Virginia N. Sherry 212-216-1231
In London: Urmi Shah 44-171-713-1995
In Brussels: Jean Paul Marthoz 32-2-736-7838

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