US Lawsuits Brought Against Israeli Officials

January 11, 2006

WILL JUSTICE REALLY BE SERVED?

Washington, DC -- In December 2005, the New York based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) brought two class action lawsuits against both Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya‘alon, former Head of the Intelligence Branch and Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and Avi Dichter, former Director of Israel‘s General Security Service (GSS), for war crimes and other violations of human rights. The separate lawsuits charge Ya‘alon for his role in the 1996 Qana massacre, and Dichter for his role in a major Gaza city bombing in 2002.

Ya‘alon was head of the IDF Intelligence Branch in April 18, 1996, when the IDF deliberately shelled a U.N. compound in the southern Lebanon village of Qana. The attack claimed the lives of over 100 civilians and wounded hundreds, including U.N. personnel, and displaced 800 civilians who had sought shelter there from the shelling of their villages by the IDF.

The “Qana Massacre” was part of an Israeli military operation codenamed "Grapes of Wrath" launched in April 1996. The Israeli military‘s Northern Command directed the bombing and shelling of small villages in southern Lebanon forcing thousands of inhabitants to flee their homes. The U.N. then launched an investigation, which denounced the IDF attack as violating the rules of international humanitarian law.

The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and was served on Ya‘alon in Washington, D.C., on December 15, 2005 on behalf of plaintiffs: Saadallah Ali Belhas‘s wife and nine children who were killed in the attack on the U.N. compound; his son, Ali Saadallah Belhas, who lost his wife and three young children; and Ali Mohammed Ismail, whose wife and children were also killed. Ibrahim Khalil Hammoud, Raiman Nasseeb, Hamidah Sharif Deeb, and Hala Yassim Khalil each suffered disabling injuries, and lost immediate relatives due to the IDF shelling. The charges include war crimes, extrajudicial killing, crimes against humanity, and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Ya‘alon retired in June 2005 as IDF chief of staff.

In a separate legal action, the CCR and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) brought a class action lawsuit in December 8, 2005 against the former Director of Israel's General Security Service, Avi Dichter, on behalf of the Palestinians who were killed and injured in a 2002 air strike in Gaza.

The attack occurred just before midnight on July 22, 2002, when the IDF dropped a one-ton bomb (over 2000 pounds) on al-Daraj, a residential neighborhood in Gaza City in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The bombing killed seven adults and eight children, in addition to injuring over 150 others. The attack was widely condemned by the international community, including the U.S. government, at the time. On July 23, 2002, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer stated that President Bush condemned this “deliberate attack against a building in which civilians were known to be located.”

The case charges Avi Dichter with war crimes and other gross human rights violations for his decision to drop the one-ton bomb on a residential neighborhood, and charges that the GSS provided the necessary intelligence and final approval to implement the attack. Dichter was served papers in New York on December 8, 2005. He had retired from the GSS earlier this year.

CCR Attorney Maria LaHood said in a statement released on December 8, “[today‘s] suit is part of a critical international movement to hold accountable those responsible for war crimes and other human rights abuses abroad when their own governments are unwilling to do so. Intentional attacks on civilians cannot be tolerated by the International Community.”

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Avi Dichter are represented by CCR attorneys Jennifer Green and Maria LaHood, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, CCR Cooperating Counsel Judith Brown Chomsky and Michael Poulshock, and Human Rights Consultant Jamil Dakwar.

The plaintiffs in the Lawsuit brought against Moshe Ya‘alon are represented by CCR attorneys Maria LaHood and Jennifer Green, CCR board member Abdeen Jebara, CCR Cooperating Attorneys Judith Brown Chomsky and Michael Poulshock, District of Columbia Counsel James Klimaski, and Human Rights Counsel Jamil Dakwar. 

NOTE TO EDITORS:

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) is a non-profit legal and educational organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights demonstrators in the South, CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change." To read the legal papers, please visit www.ccr-ny.org.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) is an independent Palestinian human rights organization based in Gaza City. The Center was established in 1995 by a group of Palestinian lawyers and human rights activists and works on protecting human rights and promotes the rule of law in accordance with international standards. For more information about the PCHR, please visit www.pchrgaza.org