TURNING MURDERERS INTO HEROES - 08-Dec-98

TURNING MURDERERS INTO HEROES

(Op-ed by Shmuel Shnitzer, "Ma'ariv", Dec 8, 1998, p. B5)

The Palestinian terrorists murdered innocent civilians. The law on releasing prisoners of war does not apply to them.

The Palestinian Authority, and the Palestinian street even more, have placed a difficult dilemma before the Israeli judicial system. In our prisons sit a large number of Palestinian Arabs who were tried and convicted for bloody attacks against Jews. The Palestinian Authority and street -- which receives its permission from the Authority -- are demanding that the State of Israel retroactively recognize these men, who were convicted as common criminals, as prisoners of war based on the peace agreements, and set them free after hostilities have concluded.

It might be possible to accept the Palestinian definition of these terrorists as prisoners of war had they demonstrated that their actions were not those of common criminals, and had they avoided attacking civilians and restricted their operations to military targets. But the reality is different. Everyone still remembers the attacks on children and schools, on innocent bus passengers, on civilian athletes who were kidnapped from the dormitories at the Olympics and murdered. Indeed, there have also been cases where the targets were also military, but they are rare.

The question is asked (legally, first of all), may someone who never considered himself bound by international law now claim for himself the rights that this law grants? A prisoner of war is a soldier in uniform, operating against a military target. Once he chooses his victims from among the civilian population, he becomes a common criminal who cannot expect a pardon once the dispute has ended and the armies are no longer shooting at each other.

The question is whether, if at all, a situation is possible whereby someone sentenced and jailed as a murderer becomes a prisoner of war overnight, because the authorities have signed a document ending the war? It is doubtful if it is possible to create a judicial system under the circumstances in which yesterday's convicted murderer can suddenly become a neighboring people's national hero by some kind of mysterious procedure. If the judicial system decides that a spiller of blood is no longer punishable, since some kind of agreement was signed at Oslo, it will be very hard to see how it will possible to continue to sentence murderers, since sooner or later they will become national heroes who acted in the national, or some other human, interest. If the day comes when the executive authority decides that for political reasons it is necessary to emasculate the judicial system, forcing it to amnesty murderers, this is likely to cause a bitter reaction on the part of the public.

The Israeli judicial system does not consider the murderer's motives, whether he acted out of hatred, or vengeance, or whether he was sent by some foreign entity which has claims against Israel and thus believes that it can hold Israeli citizens as hostages in order to meet its demands. States do not surrender to blackmail, even if they have lost a considerable part of their deterrent capability. There is no good reason to twist the Israeli judicial system's arm because our neighbors are angry and rioting in the streets. Those who sent sent the young men on their murderous missions, sent them to long years in prison and must accept the fact that they simply come home forthwith.

Another question is whether the riots and disturbances jibe with the peace agreements. Those who incite the crowds and encourage them take a heavy responsibility upon themselves even if they have reason to suppose that the new Israel might be prepared to surrender to batons and stones.