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36 Case W. Res. J. Int'l L. 319 (2004)
Targeted Killing as Active Self-Defense

handle is hein.journals/cwrint36 and id is 327 raw text is: TARGETED KILLING AS ACTIVE SELF-DEFENSE*

Amos Guiorat
L Introduction
Since June 1967 Israel has implemented a wide variety of measures to
combat Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Examples of such measures include the sealing and demolition of terrorist
homes, imposition of a curfew and other movement restricting measures,
administrative detention in those instances when criminal evidence was
unavailable or when the only basis of detention was security information
which could not be introduced in Court, deportation, and, recently, the
introduction of three new policies: assigned residence (as distinguished
from deportation), the erection of a security fence, and targeted killings.'
The focus of this paper will be a legal and policy examination of the
decision to implement targeted killings within the context of the right to
active self-defense as interpreted by the State of Israel. I should add that
while the majority of my comments refer to the legal arguments behind
targeted killing, I will also analyze its effectiveness as Professor Michael
Scharf has done in a Washington Post article2 and Professor Ed Kaplan of
Yale University has done in empirically based research challenging the
effectiveness of targeted killing.
Furthermore, an important question which will not be discussed deals
with the type of court in which terrorists should be tried. This is an issue
that we at Case are examining in a course I am teaching based in large part
on conversations I have had with Associate Dean Hiram Chodosh,
Professor Michael Scharf and Mr. Andrew McCarthy, from whom we shall
have the pleasure of hearing later.
* Presented at the War Crimes Research Symposium: Terrorism on Trial at Case
Western Reserve University School of Law, sponsored by the Frederick K. Cox International
Law Center, on Friday, Oct. 8, 2004.
t Visiting Professor of Law and designated Professor of Law and Director of the Institute
for Global Security, Law and Policy at Case Western Reserve University School of Law
effective July 2005; served for nineteen years in the Israel Defense Forces, Judge Advocate
General Corps (Lt. Col.). The opinions expressed are the authors alone. Special thanks to
research assistant Niki Dorsky and colleagues Jon Leiken and Marc Stem for their
significant contributions to this work.
1 Benjamin A. Gorelick, The Israeli Response to Palestinian Breach of the Oslo
Agreements, 9 NEw ENG. J. INT'L & COMP. L. 651 (2003).
2 Michael Scharf, In the Cross Hairs of a Scary Idea, WASH. POST, Apr. 25, 2004, at B 1.

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