War Crimes and the Mideast Conflict

Abstract

a former defense counsel for war crimes suspects, says that both Hezbollah and Israel are guilty of committing war crimes in the latest Middle East conflict.

The laws of war are divided into two categories that I often get mixed up because of the similarity of their Latin names: jus ad bellum (the legality of initiating the war) and jus in bello (the legality of the conduct of the war). The distinction is not just one of convenience, however; it has a substantive aspect. For the legality of the conduct of the war has nothing to do with the question of who started it. Jus in bello applies equally to all sides of a conflict. This is sometimes hard for people to understand, but it is of critical importance.

Keywords: war crimes, laws of war, Middle East conflict