Killings legal, court rules

THE Israeli Supreme Court yesterday decided not to issue a blanket ban against the targeted killing of Palestinian militants, ruling that some of the killings were legal under international law.

The ruling gave legal legitimacy to a practice Israeli forces have routinely used against militants during the years of violence.

It is estimated that 339 Palestinians were killed over the past six years. Of those, 210 were the targets and the rest were bystanders.

The panel unanimously ruled that “it cannot be determined in advance that every targeted killing is prohibited according to customary international law”.

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment petitioned the court to ban the policy in 2002, but it repeatedly delayed issuing a decision on the case.