Nonstate actors in the international legal order: The Israeli-Hezbollah conflict and the law of self-defense

Global Governance

Volumn 15, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 87-105

  Heinze, Eric A ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA   (United States)

Author keywords

Israeli Hezbollah conflict; Jus ad bellum; Nonstate actors; Self defense

Indexed keywords

EID: 62449159276     PISSN: 10752846     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/19426720-01501006     Document Type: Article

References (101)

1. See Yoram Dinstein, War, Aggression and Self-Defense, 4th ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 175-218, 244-250;
2. Helen Duffy, The "War on Terror" and the Framework of International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 47-70, 149-165;
3. Christine Gray, International Law and the Use of Force, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 108-120, 141-154, 159-175;
4. Carsten Stahn, "Terrorist Acts as 'Armed Attack': The Right to Self-Defense, Article 51 of the UN Charter, and International Terrorism," Fletcher Forum of World Affairs 27, no. 2 (2003): 35-54;
5. Sean D. Murphy, "Terrorism and the Concept of 'Armed Attack' in Article 51 of the UN Charter," Harvard International Law Journal 43, no. 1 (2002): 41-51;
6. Steven R. Ratner, "Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello After September 11," American Journal of International Law 96, no. 4 (2002): 905-921;
7. and Jordan J. Paust, "Use of Force Against Terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq and Beyond," Cornell International Law Journal 35 (2001-2002): 533-557.
8. Stahn, "Terrorist Acts as 'Armed Attack,'" p. 37;
9. see also Jack M. Beard, "America's New War on Terror: The Case for Self-Defense Under International Law," Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 25, no. 2 (2001-2002): 559-577;
10. Anne-Marie Slaughter and William Burke-White, "An International Constitutional Moment," Harvard International Law Journal 43, no. 1 (2002): 1-22.
11. Victor Kattan, "Israel, Hezbollah and the Conflict in Lebanon: An Act of Aggression or Self-Defense?" Human Rights Brief 14, no. 1 (2006): 26.
12. Gilbert Achcar with Michel Warschawski, The 33-Day War: Israel's War on Hezbollah in Lebanon and Its Consequences (Boulder: Paradigm, 2007), p. 32.
13. Kattan, "Israel, Hezbollah and the Conflict in Lebanon," p. 26.
14. UN General Assembly/Security Council, Letter from the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Secretary-General and Security Council, UN Doc. A/60/973-A/2006/515, 12 July 2006.
15. Case Concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), (Merits), Judgment, 27 June 1986, ICJ Rep. 14 (hereafter "Nicaragua"), par. 195.
16. Resolution on the Definition of Aggression, GA Res. 3314 (XXIX), 14 December 1974, Annex, Article 2.
17. Nicaragua, par. 210.
18. Ibid., par. 191.
19. See John Lawrence Hargrove, "The Nicaragua Judgment and the Future of the Law of Force and Self-Defense," American Journal of International Law 81, no. 1 (1987): 139.
20. W. Michael Reisman, "Allocating Competences to Use Coercion in the Post-Cold War World: Practices, Conditions, and Prospects," in Lori Fisler Dam-rosch and David J. Scheffer, eds., Law and Force in the New International Order (Boulder: Westview, 1991), pp. 39-40;
21. see also Dinstein, War, Aggression and Self-Defense, p. 195.
22. See Case Concerning Oil Platforms (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America), (Merits), Judgment, 6 November 2003, ICJ Rep. 2003 (hereafter "Oil Platforms"), pars. 51, 64, 77;
23. Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, 9 July 2004, ICJ Rep. 131 (hereafter "Wall), par. 139;
24. Case Concerning Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Uganda), (Merits) Judgment, 19 December 2005, ICJ Rep 116 (hereafter "DRC v. Uganda"), par. 147.
25. Ian Brownlie, International Law and the Use of Force by States (Oxford: Clarendon, 1963), p. 279;
26. see also Norman Menachem Feder, "Reading the UN Charter Connotatively: Toward a New Definition of Armed Attack," New York University Journal of International Law and Politics 19, no. 1 (1987): 415.
27. Kattan, "Israel, Hezbollah and the Conflict in Lebanon," p. 28.
28. See Gray, International Law, p. 113.
29. Nicaragua, par. 231;
30. Oil Platforms, par. 64;
31. DRC v. Uganda, par. 147.
32. UN Security Council (UNSC), 5489th Meeting, 14 July 2006, UN Doc. S/PV.5489;
33. UNSC, and 5493rd Meeting, 21 July 2006, UN Doc. S/PV.5493;
34. UNSC, 5492nd Meeting, 20 July 2006, UN Doc. S/PV.5492.
35. "Kofi Annan Addresses Middle East Violence," Washington Post, 20 July 2006.
36. G8, "St. Petersburg Declaration," 2006 Summit, St. Petersburg, Russia, 16 July 2006, available at http://en.g8russia.ru/docs/21.html.
37. UNSC, Letter from the Permanent Representative of Israel, UN Doc. S/PV.5492.
38. "Destruction of the 'Caroline,'" in John Bassett Moore, A Digest of International Law, vol. 1 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1906), pp. 409-414.
39. See W. Michael Reisman, "International Legal Responses to Terrorism," Houston Journal of International Law 22, no. 1 (1999): 46.
40. Murphy, "Terrorism and the Concept of 'Armed Attack,'" p. 50.
41. Antonio Cassese, "The International Community's 'Legal' Response to Terrorism," International and Comparative Law Quarterly 38, no. 3 (1989): 596.
42. Nicaragua, par. 195.
43. Ibid.
44. While this is the standard for attribution commonly associated with Nicaragua, the Court here was using this test to determine whether war crimes committed by the contras could be attributed to the United States. Ibid., par. 109.
45. Ibid., par. 115.
46. Wall, par. 139;
47. DRC v. Uganda, par. 146.
48. Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), IT-94-1-A, 15 July 1999.
49. Draft Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts ("Draft Articles"), Report of the International Law Commission, 53rd Session (2001), Supplement No. 10 (A/56/10), ch. IV.E.l, Article 8.
50. Cited by Esther Pan, "Lebanon's Weak Government," Council on Foreign Relations, 20 July 2006, available at www.cfr.org/publication/11135/#3;
51. see also Thanassis Cambanis, "Hezbollah Gains as Lebanon's Leaders Struggle," Boston Globe, 13 August 2006.
52. Gary C. Gambill, "Hezbollah and the Political Ecology of Postwar Lebanon," Mideast Monitor 1, no. 3 (2006), available at www.mideastmonitor.org/issues/0609/0609-l.htm.
53. Kimberly N. Trapp, "Back to Basics: Necessity, Proportionality, and the Right of Self-Defense Against Non-State Terrorist Actors," International and Comparative Law Quarterly 56, no. 1 (2007): 142.
54. Nicaragua, par. 19.
55. DRC v. Uganda, pars. 146, 147.
56. Ibid., par. 147.
57. Gray, International Law, p. 111.
58. This argument is masterfully developed by "Back to Basics," p. 146.
59. Ibid., p. 147;
60. see also Frederic L. Kirgis, "Some Proportionality Issues Raised by Israel's Use of Armed Force in Lebanon," ASIL Insights 10, no. 20 (2006), available at www.asil.org:80/insights/2006/08/insights060817. html.
61. Jonathan Somer, "Acts of Non-State Armed Groups and the Law Governing Armed Conflict," ASIL Insights 10, no. 21 (2006), available at www.asil.org:80/insights/2006/08/insights060824.html.
62. International Crisis Group, Israel/Palestine/Lebanon: Climbing Out of the Abyss, Middle East Report No. 57, 25 July 2006, pp. 11, 14;
63. Anthony Shadid, "Israel, Hezbollah Vow Wider War," Washington Post, 15 July 2006, p. A1;
64. Human Rights Watch, Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2006).
65. UNSC, 5503rd Meeting, 31 July 2006, UN Doc. S/PV.5503.
66. Quoted by Human Rights Watch, "Questions and Answers on Hostilities Between Israel and Hezbollah," 2 August 2006, available at http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/17/lebanol3748.htm.
67. A. P. V. Rogers, Law on the Battlefield, 2nd ed. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004), pp. 64-71.
68. See Eric P. J. Mjyer and Nigel D. White, "The Twin Towers Attack: An Unlimited Right to Self-Defence?" Journal of Conflict and Security Law 7, no. 1 (2002): 5-17;
69. see also Stahn, "Terrorist Acts as 'Armed Attack,'" p. 37;
70. Gray, International Law, p. 165;
71. Murphy, "Terrorism and the Concept of 'Armed Attack,'" pp. 47-51;
72. and Ratner, "Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello After September 11," pp. 906-911.
73. George W. Bush, "Address to the Nation on the Terrorist Attacks," Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, 14 September 2001, p. 1301.
74. UNSC, Letter from the Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council, UN Doc. S/2001/946, 7 October 2001.
75. Ibid.
76. Michael J. Glennon, "The Fog of Law: Self-Defense, Inherence, and Incoherence in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter," Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 25, no. 2 (2002): 539-558;
77. see also John Quigley, "The Afghanistan War and Self-Defense," Valparaiso University Law Review 37, no. 2 (2003): 545-546;
78. and Mark A. Drumbl, "Victimhood in Our Neighborhood: Terrorist Crime, Taliban Guilt, and the Asymmetries of the International Legal Order," North Carolina Law Review 81, no. 1 (2002): 34-40.
79. Quigley, "The Afghanistan War and Self-Defense," pp. 544, 550.
80. UNSC Res. 1368, 12 September 2001, UN Doc. S/Res/1369;
81. UNSC Res. 1373, 28 September 2001, UN Doc. S/Res/1373.
82. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Statement by the North Atlantic Council, 12 September 2001, press release (2001), available at www.nato.int/docu/pr/2001/p01-124e.htm.
83. Organization of America States (OAS), "Strengthening Hemispheric Cooperation to Prevent, Combat, and Eliminate Terrorism," 21 September 2001, OAS Res. RC.23/RES.1/01, par. 3.
84. Cited in Gray, International Law, p. 160.
85. Ratner, "Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello After September 11," p. 910.
86. Dinstein, War, Aggression and Self-Defense, pp. 206-207.
87. Stahn, "Terrorist Acts as 'Armed Attack,'" p. 37.
88. UNSC Res. 1193, 28 August 1998, UN Doc. S/Res/1193;
89. UNSC Res. 1214, 8 December 1998, UN Doc. S/Res/1214;
90. UNSC Res. 1267, 15 October 1999, UN Doc. S/Res/1267;
91. UNSC Res. 19 December 2000, UN Doc. S/Res/1333.
92. Glennon, "The Fog of Law," p. 544, note 17.
93. UNSC Res. 1559, 2 September 2004, S/Res/1559.
94. International Crisis Group, Israel/Palestine/Lebanon, p. 9.
95. The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Executive Summary, available at www.9-llcommission.gov/report/911Report-Exec.pdf, p. 2.
96. Charles W. Kegley Jr. and Gregory A. Raymond, "Preventive War and Permissive Normative Order," International Studies Perspectives 4, no. 4 (2003): 391.
97. See Nada Bakri and Hassan M. Fattah, "Lebanon Intensifies Its Offensive at Refugee Camp," International Herald Tribune, 2 June 2007.
98. See Jules Lobel, "The Use of Force to Respond to Terrorist Bombings: The Bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan," Yale Journal of International Law 24, no 2 (1999): 537-558.
99. "Chad Warns Sudan After Cross-Border Raid Kills 9," Reuters, 6 January 2006;
100. see also Andrew England, "Chad Severs Ties with Sudan as Tensions Escalate, International Herald Tribune, 15 April 2006.
101. See Alister Bull and Dean Yates, "US Accuses Iran Leadership over Iraq Violence," Reuters, 2 July 2007.