Foreign briefing

Published on Tuesday 8 July 2008 22:15

A STATEMENT often made by Israeli spokesmen is that there is no moral equivalence between the Israel Defence Force and its Palestinian enemies because the IDF never targets civilians, killing them only collaterally and deeply regretting their deaths.

This is not just for foreign consumption. Many Israelis tell it to themselves also. They want to believe that they are not responsible when Palestinian civilians are killed or injured.

And anyway, so the thinking goes, if the Palestinians weren't launching intifadas, carrying out suicide attacks and firing rockets to begin with, their civilians would not get hurt by what chiefs of staff and prime ministers alike term "the most moral army in the world".

Into this tenacious self-conception yesterday wheeled a paralysed six-year-old Palestinian girl. Marya Aman appeared at the Israeli supreme court to try to arouse the mercy of the judges and the country. She has been unable to move since a missile strike in Gaza two years ago that also killed her mother and grandmother. Her disability is permanent.

Marya wore a pink ribbon in her hair and had her fingernails painted to match for the appeal, which is aimed at forcing the state to take permanent responsibility for her care and to accord her and her father Israeli residency because the care she needs is unavailable in the Palestinian Authority areas.

But it is feared that such residency and an accompanying lifetime financial obligation could set a precedent for other Palestinians, the last thing the state wants. It took a court injunction last summer to block defence minister Ehud Barak's effort to deport Marya to Ramallah. A statement made by security officials in the Israeli media yesterday indicates deportation is still the goal.

The policy is in keeping with the spirit of a bill passed on first reading in the Knesset last month that would make it virtually impossible for a Palestinian non-combatant to claim compensation for being harmed by the Israeli army.

The supreme court judges are in no hurry to take responsibility for Marya or to collide with the defence establishment. But they are also the last line of defence for Israel's conception of itself as humane. They postponed further hearing of the appeal until the autumn.