B’Tselem reminds the Attorney General and the defense establishment that international law categorically prohibits the forced transfer of residents of the Occupied Territories.

If Israel carries out its threat to deport family members of suicide bombers and suspects, this will constitute a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention,(Articles 33 & 49) which prohibits both collective punishment and deportation.

One of the most fundamental principles of the rule of law is that one person cannot be punished for the actions of another. A state engaging in such collective punishment, even in response to murderous attacks against its own innocent civilians, loses moral justification for its action.

The punishment of innocent persons will constitute an unerasable moral blight on the State of Israel.

B’Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
8 HaTa’asiya St. (4th Floor),
Jerusalem 93420, Israel.
Tel: 972-2-6735599, Fax: 972-2-6749111
E-mail: mail@btselem.org
Web: www.btselem.org