While Syria faced enormous pressure to withdraw from Lebanon to allow the Lebanese to go to the polls and decide their future free from Syrian influence, the international community has remained silent over Israeli and American occupations, going so far as to recognise and support governments and regimes that have forfeited any claims to legitimacy by operating under occupation. And what of the Darfur, Saddam Hussein and Guantanamo trials? Similar double standards apply, only this time they revolve around a deliberate confusion between prisoners of war and war criminals. International law is clear on this point, though its application is subject to policy considerations far removed from the letter, let alone the spirit, of the law. American and Israeli occupation forces and their leadership have been deliberately shielded from questions and any measure of accountability for actions that clearly breach the Fourth Geneva Convention and other relevant international treaties and conventions. The collective punishment meted out by Israel against the Palestinians, the bulldozing of homes and restrictions on movement, breach the Geneva Convention. So do attacks on civilians, ambulances and journalists. Any attack on civilians, including those made by Palestinians against Israeli civilians, violates international law. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, which governs the behaviour of occupying states, the transfer of citizens from the occupying state to the occupied is strictly prohibited. Israel's ongoing settlement activities are thus a blatant, and continuing, violation of international law. While international agreements and treaties -- even official American statements -- refer to the settlements in passing as "illegal" or "an obstacle to peace" Israel has been allowed to continue its settlement programme without anyone seriously questioning the ever-growing financial support that makes it possible. Israel, conveniently, has consistently refused to fully apply the Geneva Conventions to the land it occupied after the 1967 war. The real issue here is the effective implementation of international treaties. Violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention must stop, and not just in Iraq, Palestine, Sudan and Lebanon; the issue must be looked at from a global perspective. Although it is vitally important to identify war crimes and the violations of the rights of citizens under occupation and record them, this will mean nothing until the international community is willing to give teeth to the relevant resolutions. Signatories to the Geneva Convention must apply those articles which call for an end to the blatant and continuous violations of the rights of those who suffer under occupation, and they must apply them consistently. The essential principle here is that international law be respected and applied across the globe, regardless of who commits the crime, and who the victims are.
