Doing the exact opposite of what was needed in Gaza in its meeting with Hamas - by Elder of Ziyon

...The fundamental issue that Hamas has managed to obfuscate is that these "prisoners" are not prisoners - but hostages. The reason Hamas didn't allow Maurer to speak with the Israelis who for whatever reason ended up in Gaza is because it wants to use them as bargaining chips to get Israel to release terrorists and achieve other goals, and even the promise of showing proof of life is something that Hamas sees as something to be bartered..

Elder of Ziyon..
06 September '17..

The New York Times eagerly reported in 2015:

GAZA CITY — A new training regimen for fighters in Hamas’s armed wing employs slide presentations and a whiteboard rather than Kalashnikov rifles and grenades. The young men wear polo shirts instead of fatigues and black masks. They do not chant anti-Israel slogans, but discuss how the Geneva Conventions governing armed conflict dovetail with Islamic principles.

The three-day workshop, conducted last month by the International Committee of the Red Cross, followed numerous human-rights reports accusing both Israel and Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, of war crimes in their devastating battle last summer, and came as the International Criminal Court prosecutor conducts a preliminary inquiry into that conflict.

The Red Cross developed its program in conjunction with Islamic scholars several years ago, but ramped it up after last summer’s deadly battle. So far this year, it has conducted six sessions for a total of 210 fighters from Hamas’s Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades and two other Gaza armed groups. Another workshop is scheduled for this week.

...Red Cross leaders say they have seen an increasing commitment from Hamas leaders and linemen alike, if only because they now consider their international image a critical component of their struggle.

(Continue to Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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'Occupied Territories'and the ICRC

Moshe Dann..
Op-Ed Contributor/JPost..
13 December '12..

The International Committee of the Red Cross does good humanitarian work around the world, but it is not just a well-meaning NGO. With a political agenda against Israel and with its unique role, it has determined the way that the international community thinks about Judea, Samaria, Gaza, eastern Jerusalem (the West Bank) and the Golan Heights.

For several decades the ICRC has promoted through the UN and other international bodies a conceptual straitjacket: “the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).”

Because the ICRC is the “official guardian” of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) (GC IV), its interpretation is considered authoritative.

Using its exclusive position, it turned GC IV – which was intended to ensure the protection of civilians threatened by war and other conflicts – into a political sledgehammer against Israel.

The ICRC contrived the term OPT, promoted it in every forum and unilaterally designated what is at best a disputed area as (1) illegally occupied by Israel, (2) belonging to Palestinian Arabs and (3) an unnamed and undefined territory without a history.

GC IV, however, is concerned with humanitarian issues, the rights of “protected persons.” It is not mandated to designate new countries.

Should Be a Red-faced Red Cross, However Concerning Israel ... Never Mind.

The throw-in of "transferring" is ridiculous as Jews lived in the areas of Judea, Samaria and Gaza for centuries prior to 1947-49 and it was only because of a policy of ethnic cleansing practiced by Arabs during the Mandate and the War of Independence - Schaerer knows of those illegal acts, does he not? - that Jews were not there in 1967.

Yisrael Medad..
My Right Word..
04 November '12..







There is an op-ed in Haaretz (where else?) by the head of the ICRC delegation in Israel arguing

...contrary to what is claimed in the Levy report, it is manifestly clear that the West Bank is occupied by Israel...Furthermore, concerning the settlements in the West Bank, it has to be emphasized that Article 49 (6 ) of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits a state from transferring parts of its own civilian population to territory it occupies, does not merely prohibit the occupying state from forcefully transferring parts of its population; it also prohibits any action by the occupier which facilitates such transfer. The ICRC commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention makes clear that Article 49 (6 ), like the convention as a whole, aims to protect the local population in the occupied territory and not the population of the occupying state. Furthermore, international humanitarian law prohibits any action by an occupying power aimed at altering the intrinsic characteristics of the occupied territory, including any measures that affect its demographic, cultural or social composition.

My comment left there:

CAMERA - In Memory -- Bernadine Healy Fought Exclusion of Israel from ICRC

AL
CAMERA/Snapshots
10 August '11

http://blog.camera.org/archives/2011/08/in_memory_bernadine_healy_foug.html

A fearless and outspoken former president of the National Institutes of Health and the American Red Cross, Dr. Bernadine Healy died August 6, 2011 of brain cancer. At the helm of the Red Cross, Dr. Healy championed efforts to end the exclusion of Israel's Magen David Adom from membership in the International Red Cross, cutting US funding to the international body.

Two months after assuming command of the American Red Cross in September 1999, Healy flew to Geneva to address a large assembly of the International Red Cross movement. And, in the eyes of international officials, she charged in like a bull in a china shop.

''She comes in and makes a speech in which she harangues the assembled membership about the inequity of the exclusion of M.D.A. and how the American Red Cross is going to make inclusion happen now, whether we liked it or not,'' said Christopher Lamb, an executive of the international federation. ''She spoke about the movement, describing everyone as cowards and failures and people who didn't understand.''

Lawrence Eagleburger wrote in a Washington Post op-ed column

that Healy simply refused to turn ''a blind eye on a moral wrong.'' And persuaded by her passion, the American Red Cross board went right along with her. It agreed to start withholding its $4.5 million annual dues to the international federation; that money is 25 percent of the federation headquarters' budget.

On June 21, 2006, Israel was finally admitted as a full member to the ICRC. Dr. Healy's unequivocal leadership years earlier gave crucial impetus to that outcome.

She will be remembered for many achievements, among them her moral clarity and courage.

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The Red Cross, Hamas, and Gilad Shalit

Alana Goodman
Commentary/Contentions
24 March '11

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/03/24/the-red-cross-hamas-and-gilad-shalit/

CBN News is reporting that the Red Cross is continuing to shelter three Hamas officials suspected in the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit five years ago. It sounds like the terrorists have it pretty good. In addition to receiving visits from foreign dignitaries, Jimmy Carter has dropped by, and the Hamas members have been free to hold press conferences from their safe-house at the Red Cross’s East Jerusalem office. Legions of Hamas supporters reportedly congregate outside the office on Fridays to hold candlelight vigils, as well.

“Under international humanitarian law, East Jerusalem is considered occupied territory,” Red Cross spokesperson Cecilia Goin explained to CBN News. “So the Palestinians living in East Jerusalem are considered protected people.”

While the Red Cross has welcomed the Hamas officials with open arms (the three of them have reportedly set up a tent at the office), Red Cross medical personnel continue to be denied access to tend to Shalit while he’s in captivity, in violation of international law.

The Red Cross’s cushy treatment of these Hamas officials is bad enough on its own. But it also highlights the fact that the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations haven’t been nearly as forceful as they should be in demanding the release of Shalit. Nearly five years after his capture, it’s a travesty that he hasn’t even been able to receive medical attention, while three of his suspected kidnappers receive visits from former U.S. presidents and diplomats.

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On Fish and House Guests

Medusa
CiF Watch
21 September '10

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) claims to be impartial in its attitude towards Israel but it has not been slow to condemn Israel for alleged human rights abuses while singularly failing to mention continued breaches of the human rights of the Palestinians in Gaza by their own government, Hamas (see also here , here and here).

The ICRC has been tasked, so far without any success, with trying to communicate with Gilad Shalit, the young Israeli kidnapped over four years ago in a cross-border raid by Hamas, held incommunicado and in solitary confinement in contravention of the Geneva Conventions, and without access to medical aid. He was only 19 years of age when he was captured and was last heard from a year ago. Most recently Hamas published an animated video on YouTube, after threats to kill Gilad Shalit unless the Israeli government meets its demands, at the end of which the viewer is led to believe that Gilad has been executed. This is yet more evidence, if any were needed after the murders of four Israeli civilians in the West Bank, of Hamas’ utter depravity and total disregard for human decency.

The first sentence of the ICRC’s mission statement states unequivocally:

“The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence and to provide them with assistance.”

(Read full post)

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