Is Colin Powell an Arab?
Colin Powell and Palestinian "freedom fighters"
By Louis Rene Beres November 12, 2001
israelinsider.com
Secretary of State Colin Powell said recently that Palestinian terrorists might just be "freedom fighters." Although Bin Laden's Al-Qaida is clearly a terrorist group, said Powell before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Palestinian groups allegedly lie in "gray areas," areas "that might need to be treated politically."
Speaking of Palestinian organizations that regularly target and murder Israeli schoolchildren, Powell instructed the Committee that this is a domain where "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."
From the standpoint of authoritative international law - let alone the basic standards of civilized international relations - Secretary Powell is altogether incorrect.
Although it is true that certain insurgencies can be judged lawful under international law, these insurgencies MUST conform to the laws of war. The ends can never justify the means in international law. Where the insurgent group resorts to unjust means, its actions are unambiguously terroristic. Period!
Jurisprudentially, the statement that "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" is entirely meaningless. There are precise and determinable standards that must be applied in judgment of all insurgent resorts to violence. These standards are known in law as JUST CAUSE and JUST MEANS. These standards, and these standards alone, allow us to distinguish lawful insurgency from terrorism.
National liberation movements that fail to meet the test of JUST MEANS are not protected as lawful or legitimate. Leaving aside the very doubtful argument that Palestinian organizations meet the standards of "national liberation," it is assuredly clear that they do not meet the standards of discrimination, proportionality and military necessity - the standards applicable under the laws of war.
These standards have been applied to insurgent organizations by the common Article 3 of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and by the two protocols to these Conventions of 1977. They are binding upon all combatants by virtue of both customary and conventional international law.
The ends do not justify the means. As in the case of war between states, every use of force by insurgents must be judged twice, once with regard to the justness of the objective (in this case, a Palestinian state built upon the charred ruins of a dismembered Israel) and once with regard to the justness of the means used in pursuit of that objective.
A group of Palestinian organizations that deliberately targets women and young children - usually with intent to maximize pain and suffering - can NEVER claim to be "freedom fighters." One would have expected the Secretary of State of the United States to understand this incontestable norm.
American and European supporters of a Palestinian State presume that it will be part of a "two-state solution," that is, the new Arab state will exist side-by-side with the existing Jewish State.
Yet, this presumption is dismissed everywhere in the Arab/Islamic world. Indeed, the "Map of Palestine" at the official website of the Palestinian National Authority includes all of Israel. There are not two states on this map, only one.
Palestinian insurgents who resort to terrorism against Israel will NEVER acknowledge that a Jewish State has any right to endure. Why this should be so difficult to understand when even the most "moderate" Palestinians themselves have been so cartographically honest on their own website is beyond comprehension.
Terrorist crimes, as part of a broader category called CRIMEN CONTRA OMNES (crimes against all), mandate universal cooperation in apprehension and punishment. In this connection, as punishers of "grave breaches" under international law, all states are expected to search out and prosecute, or extradite, individual terrorist perpetrators. In no circumstances are any states permitted to characterize terrorists as "freedom fighters."
This is especially the case for the United States, which incorporates all international law as the "supreme law of the land" at Article 6 of the Constitution, and which was formed by the Founding Fathers according to the timeless principles of Natural Law.
Palestinian terrorists are not "freedom fighters," Mr. Powell. They are "Common Enemies of Mankind," and must be treated accordingly. |
