新研究称以色列正在加沙实施种族灭绝
【中美创新时报2024 年 5 月 16 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）人权研究人员网络的一项新研究得出的结论是，根据国际法，以色列在加沙的行动相当于种族灭绝，并呼吁国际社会在联合国最高法院深入调查这场冲突时采取行动。《波士顿环球报》记者肖恩·科特 (Sean Cotter) 和丹尼尔·库尔 (Daniel Kool) 对此作了下述报道。
波士顿大学、康奈尔法学院、比勒陀利亚大学和耶鲁大学法学院的研究人员周三（5月15日）联合发表了大学人权网络研究报告，审查了记者、独立人权监察员和联合国机构的报告，因为研究人员寻求 以确定以色列是否违反了 1948 年《种族灭绝公约》中规定的法律。
以色列驻新英格兰总领事馆的代表没有立即回应置评请求。去年12月，领事馆在一份声明中表示，种族灭绝的指控“不仅在事实和法律上毫无根据，而且在道义上令人反感”。领事馆表示，以色列对哈马斯武装分子的行动一直合法，并正在努力减少平民伤亡。
该研究的作者写道，以色列一直致力于通过针对加沙居民、医疗设施和援助工作的暴力来消灭巴勒斯坦人民，并且以色列官员已经通过言语表明了这样做的意图。
“根据公开的证据，我们得出结论，种族灭绝正在发生，”该报告的撰稿人、波士顿大学国际人权诊所主任苏珊·M·阿克拉姆 (Susan M. Akram) 说。
她说，研究人员的目的是在以色列官员使用的非人性言论与以色列军队在加沙的行动之间建立直接联系。她指出，对种族灭绝进行分类——她说种族灭绝是“最严重的国际犯罪之一”——通常取决于能否证明其意图。
据《以色列时报》报道，该报告援引以色列总理本杰明·内塔尼亚胡和该国国防部长约阿夫·加兰特的话说，后者表示，以色列军队“正在与人类动物作战，我们正在采取相应行动”。
几天后，以色列总统艾萨克·赫尔佐格告诉记者，“整个国家都要对这次袭击负责”，他驳斥了有关加沙平民不知道该计划的说法。
阿克拉姆说：“报告详细介绍了以色列领导人的许多声明，这些声明显示了屠杀巴勒斯坦人口的计划。”
国际法将种族灭绝定义为实施特定的暴力行为，其意图是“全部或部分摧毁一个民族、民族、种族或宗教团体本身”。
作者写道：“具体而言，以色列实施了种族灭绝杀戮行为，对加沙的巴勒斯坦人造成了严重伤害和生活条件的破坏，而加沙巴勒斯坦人是一个受保护的群体，是巴勒斯坦人民的重要组成部分。” 在该研究的执行摘要中。
加沙目前的冲突是数十年前敌对行动的最新篇章。10月7日，哈马斯发动突然袭击，造成以色列1200人死亡，并劫持约250人质。
此后几个月，以色列采取了大规模、持续的军事行动作为回应。据联合国称，当时有超过 34,000 名加沙人被杀，超过 100 万人流离失所。
位于海牙的联合国国际刑事法院的检察官面临着越来越大的采取行动的压力。今年三月，联合国任命的一名特别研究人员发现，有“合理的理由”相信以色列正在对巴勒斯坦人实施种族灭绝。
本月早些时候，拜登政府表示，以色列在使用美国提供的武器时可能违反了国际人道主义法，但战时条件使美国官员无法在具体空袭中确定这一点。
这份最新报告强调，以色列的轰炸摧毁了加沙 70% 的房屋以及大部分民用基础设施，包括医院和学校。报告称，以色列的行动还导致加沙北部发生饥荒，并导致该地区大部分地区无法获得水和医疗服务。
该报告确实补充说，研究人员“谴责各方犯下的所有违反国际法的行为，包括哈马斯在 2023 年 10 月 7 日或之后对以色列平民实施的侵犯行为。” 然而，研究人员写道，“任何一方违反国际法的行为都不能成为其他违反国际法行为的理由，包括最重要的种族灭绝罪行。”
巴勒斯坦人、克拉克大学斯特拉斯勒大屠杀和种族灭绝研究中心教授 Elyse Semerdjian（未参与该报告）表示，这项研究有助于反驳“一切都从 10 月 7 日开始”的说法，而是强调了以色列所受待遇的历史模式 。
她说，这项研究的结果可能会纳入国际法院针对以色列的案件，但她补充说，关于以色列在加沙的行动是否构成种族灭绝的争论不太可能很快得出任何结论。
“我们将争论这是否是种族灭绝数十年。与此同时，加沙地带将不再有巴勒斯坦人，”她说。 “种族灭绝是一个过程——它不是一个事件。”
报告最后发表声明称，“这些违法行为引起了所有其他国家的义务：不承认以色列的违法行为是合法的，或采取任何可能构成这些违法行为共谋的行动；并采取积极措施制止、防止和惩罚以色列对加沙巴勒斯坦人民实施进一步的种族灭绝行为。”
阿克拉姆表示，种族灭绝的证据要求包括美国在内的其他国家有义务停止向以色列提供武器和技术，并且不得将以色列的行动视为合法自卫。
“我们希望确保我们站在法律的正确一边，”她说。 “澄清事实对于我们从事这项工作的人来说极其重要。”
本报告使用了美联社的材料。环球报工作人员迈克·达米亚诺 (Mike Damiano) 也做出了贡献。
题图：2024 年 5 月 15 日，一名流离失所的巴勒斯坦妇女和一名儿童走在加沙地带南部汗尤尼斯一座被以色列轰炸摧毁的清真寺前。AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
附原英文报道：
New study claims Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
By Sean Cotter and Daniel Kool Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent,Updated May 15, 2024
A new study from a network of human rights researchers concluded that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide under international law and called on the international community to take action as the United Nations’ top court digs into the conflict.
The University Network for Human Rights study, published jointly on Wednesday by researchers at Boston University, Cornell Law School, the University of Pretoria, and Yale Law School, reviewed the reports of journalists, independent human rights monitors, and UN agencies as the researchers sought to determine whether Israel was in violation the laws stemming from the Genocide Convention of 1948.
Representatives for the Consulate General of Israel to New England did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In December, the consulate said in a statement that the accusation of genocide is “not only wholly unfounded as a matter of fact and law, it is morally repugnant.” The consulate said Israel has been acting lawfully in its actions against Hamas militants and is trying to minimize civilian casualties.
The study’s authors wrote that Israel has worked to eliminate the Palestinian people through violence directed at Gaza’s population, medical facilities, and aid efforts, and that Israeli officials have demonstrated through their words an intent to do so.
“From the publicly available evidence, we have concluded that genocide is taking place,” said Boston University International Human Rights Clinic director Susan M. Akram, who contributed to the report.
She said researchers aimed to draw direct connections between what they characterized as dehumanizing rhetoric used by Israeli officials and the actions of Israel’s military in Gaza. She noted that classifying a genocide — which she said is “among the greatest of international crimes” — often hinges on being able to prove intent.
The report quotes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, the latter of whom said Israeli forces “are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly,” the Times of Israel reported.
Days later, Israeli President Isaac Herzog told reporters there was “an entire nation out there that is responsible” for the attack, and he dismissed arguments that Gazan civilians were unaware of the plan.
”The report details so many statements by Israeli leaders that show the plan to decimate the Palestinian population,” Akram said.
International law defines genocide as committing specific acts of violence with the intent “to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.”
“Specifically, Israel has committed genocidal acts of killing, causing serious harm to, and inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza, a protected group that forms a substantial part of the Palestinian people,” the authors wrote in the study’s executive summary.
The current conflict in Gaza is the latest chapter in hostilities dating back decades. On Oct. 7, Hamas mounted a surprise attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel and took about 250 hostage.
Israel has responded with a massive and ongoing military campaign in the months since. In that time, more than 34,000 Gazans have been killed and more than a million displaced, according to the United Nations.
Prosecutors from the UN’s International Criminal Court at The Hague are facing increasing pressure to act. In March, a UN-appointed special researcher found there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration said that Israel likely had violated international humanitarian law while using of US-provided weapons, but wartime conditions prevented US officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
This latest report highlighted that Israeli bombing has destroyed up to 70 percent of homes in Gaza, as well as the majority of its civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and schools. Israel’s actions, according to the report, have also led to famine in northern Gaza and lack of access to water and medical services throughout much of the area.
The report did add that the researchers “condemn all violations of international law committed by all parties, including violations committed by Hamas against Israeli civilians on or since October 7, 2023.” However, researchers wrote, “violations of international law by any party do not justify the commission of other violations of international law, including and especially the paramount crime of genocide.”
Elyse Semerdjian, a professor at Clark University’s Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide studies who was not involved with the report, said the study helps push back against the narrative that “everything starts on Oct. 7,” and instead highlights historical patterns of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
She said the study’s findings are likely to make it into the International Court of Justice’s case against Israel, but she added that arguments over whether Israel’s campaign in Gaza constitutes a genocide are not likely to come to any conclusion soon.
”We’ll be debating for decades whether this was a genocide. Meanwhile, there will be no Palestinians left in Gaza,” she said. “Genocide is a process — it’s not an event.”
The report concluded with a statement that “these violations give rise to obligations by all other States: to refrain from recognizing Israel’s breaches as legal or taking any actions that may amount to complicity in these breaches; and to take positive steps to suppress, prevent, and punish the commission by Israel of further genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
Akram said proof of genocide obligates other countries, including the United States, to stop providing Israel with weapons and technology and to not defend the nation’s actions as lawful self-defense.
“We want to make sure we’re on the right side of the law,” she said. “And setting the record straight is extremely important for us who are in this work.”
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Mike Damiano of the Globe staff contributed.
