On 10 June 2008, the Israeli Knesset approved the first reading of the Civilian Damages Bill (Responsibility of the State) (Amendment 8) – 2008. Israeli Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann brought the bill before the Knesset. This amendment, if enacted into law, will prevent residents of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) from submitting tort lawsuits against the state to obtain compensation for damages inflicted upon them by the Israeli security forces, even in cases where damages were caused outside the context of military operations. According to the text of the bill, citizens of the state will also not be able to file tort suits for compensation for damages inflicted upon them by the Israeli security forces.
The Israeli Supreme Court has previously pointed to serious problems in attempts by the state to absolve itself from tort liability. In December 2006, a unanimous nine-justice panel of the court accepted a petition filed by Attorneys Hassan Jabareen and Orna Kohn of Adalah, Attorneys Yossi Wolfson and Gil Gan-Mor from HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, and Attorney Dan Yakir from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). The petition was filed on behalf of nine Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations and challenged a similar amendment to the law which was enacted to exempt the state from its responsibility to compensate Palestinian residents of the OPT for damages inflicted upon them by the Israeli army. In its decision the Supreme Court stated that the law contradicted the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom and violates the rights to life, dignity, property and freedom.
According to the new bill – which, if approved, will be applied retroactively for damages inflicted on Palestinians since September 2000 – in case of damage or injury outside of the framework of any military operation, the victims, be they orphans, widows and disabled, or those whose property was completely destroyed, will remain without a legal remedy. Further, no one will be held to account for illegal operations. In a position paper, Adalah, ACRI and HaMoked strongly criticized the bill, arguing that it is even worse than its predecessor, which was cancelled by the Supreme Court in December 2006. They emphasized that the bill is incompatible with the principle of justice, and contradicts basic principles of Israeli and international law.
In the position paper, the human rights organizations stated that in the absence of the possibility of filing lawsuits there will be no way of examining instances of torture, theft or property damage carried out by Israeli soldiers or other security forces personnel. “If the Knesset passes this bill, Israel will join the ranks of states which do not safeguard human rights, and the outcome will be a vast quantity of lawsuits that will be filed abroad against soldiers and officers of the Israeli military,” stated the human rights organizations.
Significantly, the new bill also harms citizens of the state, as it authorizes the Minister of Internal Security to proclaim areas within the Green Line as “war zones” and therefore to prevent citizens of the state damaged during security force operations from submitting lawsuits against them as well.