Legal and Tactical Dilemmas Inherent in Fighting Terror: Experience of the Israeli Army in Jenin and Bethlehem (April-May 2002)

• Author: Alan Baker
• Position: Legal Adviser to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Pages: 273-285

XV

Legal and Tactical Dilemmas Inherent

in Fighting Terror:

Experience of the Israeli Army

in Jenin and Bethlehem

(April-May 2002)

Alan Baker l

Introduction

Oneof the major challenges presently facing the international community

is the extent to which the laws of armed conflict, as understood today,

maybe applied to conflict scenarios oftoday's world realities, and specifically in a

situation in which the international community finds itself in aconcerted global

campaign against terror. 2In other words, is the law of armed conflict, as articu-

lated, understood and applied in what we have grown up to understand to be to-

day's world, capable of guiding States in the fight against today's terror?

When faced with legal issues arising in a "standard situation" of armed con-

flict—whether in regard to ground operations, air or naval targeting opera-

tions—the legal parameters are usually relatively clear. This is because the laws

and customs of war and international humanitarian law—which constitute inte-

gral components of international law—set out the norms and standards by which