WAR CRIMES

Committed in violation of the provisions of the 1949 IV Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilians in times of war (ratified by Israel^[62] and by Belgium^[63]), the Sabra and Shatila massacres must equally be qualified as war crimes according to the terms of article 8 of the ICC Statute, and as grave violations against persons and property protected by the terms of the Geneva Conventions and of Article 1 § 3 of the 16 June 1993 law, these massacres having been perpetrated within the framework of an aggressive invasion by the Israeli army into Lebanese territory, thus introducing an international character to the sense of the IV Convention.

The victims of Sabra and Shatila must all be considered as protected persons as defined in the IV Convention, particularly Article 147. Mr Sharon's allegations that 2,000 armed persons were inside the camps^[64] are patently contradicted by the facts. Very few of the Sabra and Shatila refugees put up the slightest resistance. Numerous people were found murdered with their identity cards in their hands, dramatically illustrating their faith in the protection that should have been accorded to them as civilians (see supra, B2).

The Israeli army was, at the time of the massacres, an occupation force in the sense of article 4 of the same IV Convention, and thus, this army had a clear responsibility towards the protected persons.

War crimes consist of, notably: intentional homicide, torture or other inhumane treatment; the destruction of property without military necessity, as well as generally subjecting a civilian population or civilian people to attack, and subjecting undefended localities to attack. All these crimes were committed at Sabra and Shatila by the Phalangist militia, actively supported by the Israeli Defence Forces, who had given them control of the camps "under their supervision."^[65]

[The Case Against The Accused]

Footnotes