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Letter of Appeal from the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility

7 November 2000

His Excellency Ehud Barak
Prime Minster of Israel
Kiryat Ben-Gurion
3 Kaplan St, P.O. Box 187
91919 Jerusalem
Israel
Fax: 972-2-513950 or 972 2 566 4838


Dear Mr. Prime Minister:

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the largest organization of natural and social scientists in the United States, and the world's largest federation of scientific organizations, with 145,000 individual members and 300 affiliated groups. Our AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility was formed in 1976 to protect the human rights of scientists and to deal with issues relating to scientific freedom worldwide.

I am writing to express the concern of the Committee about reports of Israeli attacks on medical personnel in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Physicians for Human Rights USA (PHR), which led a mission to the area from October 20-27, 2000, has documented a number of violations of medical neutrality. For example, PHR investigators examined two damaged ambulances in Gaza, one of which suffered a direct hit to the front window and the other had been struck at least five times by 50 caliber armor piercing ammunition. The International Committee of the Red Cross reports that dozens of ambulances from the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the Magen David Adom in Israel have been attacked. During the week of October 19 to October 23 alone, PHR-Israel reported that an additional 26 ambulances were damaged by gunfire.

The are also reports from several human rights organizations, including PHR, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, that Israeli Defense Force (IDF) fired shots on medical personnel, some of whom were wearing vests that clearly identified them as medical personnel. The Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees report that the IDF injured 12 of their medical personnel while they were providing medical care.

The relevant human rights standard that protects medical neutrality is the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II). Israel is a state party to Protocol II. The relevant articles are:

· Article 9(1) Protection of medical and religious personnel

Medical and religious personnel shall be respected and protected and shall be granted all available help for the performance of their duties. They shall not be compelled to carry out tasks which are not compatible with their humanitarian mission.

· Article 11 Protection of medical units and transports

1. Medical units and transports shall be respected and protected at all times and shall not be the object of attack.
2. The protection to which medical units and transports are entitled shall not cease unless they are used to commit hostile acts, outside their humanitarian function. Protection may, however, cease only after a warning has been given setting, whenever appropriate, a reasonable time-limit, and after such warning has remained unheeded.


It is my understanding that the Israeli army claims that the ambulances were not being used properly. However, the PHR team found no evidence that ambulances were used for any other purpose than transporting the wounded. Furthermore, the PHR interviewed officials who admitted that the IDF had violated medical neutrality. An unidentified IDF official stated that orders had been reissued from headquarters to respect the neutrality of ambulances and medical personnel in the field.

We welcome the willingness of IDF officials to acknowledge that violations of medical neutrality had occurred in the region. We also welcome the information that orders were reissued to respect the neutrality of medical personnel and ambulances. We trust that the Israeli Government's reaffirmation of medical neutrality will mean that the IDF will continue to respect and protect medical personnel, hospitals and other medical establishments, as well as medical transports and supplies, in order that the wounded be assisted and all medical personnel be allowed to carry out their life-saving tasks.

We call on the Israeli Government to conduct its own official investigation into this matter and make the findings available to the public. An official investigation would help to ensure that such violations of medical neutrality by the security forces do not recur with impunity.


Sincerely,

Irving Lerch
Chair, Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility

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