New law makes seeking compensation for Israeli military damages impossible

Date: 29 / 06 / 2008  Time:  14:26
Bethlehem – Ma'an –

A proposed amendment to the Responsibility of State Law will deny Palestinians the right to seek compensation for Israeli occupation army damages. The bill has passed its first reading in the Knesset.

The new bill, called the Civilian Damages bill, was proposed as an amendment to the Responsibility of the State law passed at the start of the second Intifada.

The bill was first proposed in 2005 as the Civil Damages Act (later termed the Intifada Law) and was passed on the third reading, it was overturned in 2006.

This new effort to revive the bill and circumvent earlier objections is currently being reviewed in the Knesset.

According to the Adalah Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, the proposed bill will "prevent residents of the Occupied Palestinian Territory from submitting tort lawsuits against the state to obtain compensation for damages inflicted upon them by the Israeli security forces, even in cases where damages were caused outside the context of military operations. According to the text of the bill, citizens of the state will also not be able to file tort suits for compensation for damages inflicted upon them by the Israeli security forces."

Practically, this means that individuals in the Palestinian territories seeking compensation for damages due to the actions of Israeli forces—hospital treatment, for example, or remunerations for damage to property or loss of a family member—will be unable to appeal to Israeli courts.

According to Hussein Abu Hussein, a Palestinian attorney practicing in Israel and an expert on Israeli tort law, "Israeli Jews residing in settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which are all illegal under international law, are excluded from the reach of the bill.”

Currently, lawsuits seeking for compensation can be filed in Israeli courts. Under the proposed amendment, however, suits will first have to pass before a court that will determine whether actions charged to the state are "military," in which case the state would be exempt from accountability to those injured.

The Israeli press has quoted Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann as saying that "the need for this law stems from the changes in the practical and legal arenas since the implementation of the disengagement and the High Court's ruling, which determined that the clause in question was unconstitutional."

Adalah calls the bill a "tool for legitimizing further military attacks on Palestinians."

MK Wasil Taha (Balad) was quoted in the Israeli press following the reading of the bill as saying that it had been "a dark day for the Knesset and democracy. The proposal is aimed against the Arab public's leaders and Arab MKs. It is another de-legitimizing step against the entire Arab public."

According to Palestinian sources, it appears that injured Brigades members will be provided with treatment before they are transferred to Israeli prisons.