Israeli sonic boom raids must stop

10.32.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 20th Jul 2006

London's Liberal Democrat Euro-MP and peer Baroness Sarah Ludford, a member of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel, this week asked the government during exchanges in the House of Lords to urge Israel to stop creating sonic booms over the Palestinian territories.

Since the withdrawal of Israeli settlers from Gaza in September 2005, the Israeli air force has reportedly been using jets to break the sound barrier at low altitude over Gaza, thereby causing sonic booms.

Sarah Ludford, who afterwards expressed disappointment that her December 2005 letter to the Israeli ambassador on this topic had remained unanswered, commented:

"My protest lies in the indiscriminate nature of this practice. I do strongly support Israel's right to take legitimate action to protect its security, but the damage caused by the sonic booms appears to be designed to intimidate, in other words collective punishment which cannot be morally justified."

"The UN's demand for an end to this practice points out that amongst children sonic booms can cause anxiety, bedwetting, muscle spasms, temporary loss of hearing and breathing difficulties. It is wrong for Israel to inflict this suffering if the military justification present in other Israeli Defence Force actions is here absent."

Notes:

• Full text of Sarah Ludford's question following the Middle East Statement in the House of Lords Monday 17th July: "My Lords, will the Minister make representations to the Israeli Government to ask them to desist from what I regard to be their unacceptable practice of creating sonic booms across the Palestinian territories? I speak as a member of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel, someone who is very conscious of Israel's right to take action against threats to its security. I was disappointed because I wrote to the Israeli ambassador in December about this and I have not received a response."

• Article 33 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War states: 'No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.'