To the Editor:

Steven Eidman is simply wrong in “Israeli Expulsions Don’t Break Geneva Accords” (letter, Feb. 24), disputing your Feb. 3 editorial’s conclusion that Israel’s deportation of some 400 Palestinians violates the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.

Mr. Eidman argues that the convention is inapplicable because, under Article 2, it governs “cases of partial or total occupation of the territory of a high contracting party.” Because neither West Bank nor Gaza Strip was recognized at the Israeli occupation in 1967 as the territory of Jordan or Egypt — the pertinent parties to the convention — he reasons the convention does not apply.

Article 2 provides that the convention also applies to “all cases of declared war” and “any other armed conflict” between two or more parties to the convention. Since Egypt, Jordan and Israel are parties, the 1967 war that gave rise to the Israeli occupation and has yet to be formally concluded by a peace agreement is sufficient to trigger the convention. Most scholars of international law recognize this, as well as the Security Council, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United States and every government but Israel’s.

Mr. Eidman also argues that, even if the convention applies, its prohibition of “individual or mass forcible transfers as well as deportations” (Article 49) does not bar the deportations because of a parallel provision allowing “total or partial evacuation” of an area “if the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand.”

As the Red Cross commentary on the convention makes clear, evacuation is permitted only in cases of “intense bombing” or other “military operations,” not as a law-enforcement tool. And “evacuation must not involve the movement of protected persons to places outside the occupied territory, unless it is physically impossible to do otherwise.” Israel cannot maintain it was impossible to detain suspects in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, rather than deport them to Lebanon.

The deportations violate international law. If Israel identifies those responsible for deplorable acts of violence against its citizens, it should charge and try them, not compound their lawlessness. KENNETH ROTH Dep. Director, Human Rights Watch New York, Feb. 24, 1993