International Red Cross: Geneva Conventions breached by Israeli transfer of Palestinians

Speaking about the Palestinians forced by Israel to the leave their occupied territories after their siege in the Church of Nativity, Vincent Lusser, a spokesman for the Middle East department of the ICRC (Red Cross) in Geneva, cited Article 49 of Annexe 4 of the Geneva Conventions, telling The Independent: "Transfers outside occupied territory are illegal and that covers the 13 men," the UK daily The Independent reported.

Article 49 states specifically that "individual or mass forcible transfers ... from occupied territory to the territory of the occupying power or to that of any other country ... are prohibited, regardless of their motive," The Independent quoted Lusser as saying.