OCTOBER 2005
Dear Friends,
As we observe the 23rd anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, and as we pause to remember the victims, as well as the survivors´ quashed attempts to seek justice through the Belgian courts, it is encouraging to note that the United Kingdom is emerging as a new venue for opposing impunity and pursuing accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity as defined by the Geneva Conventions.
Below is a recent article that sums up recent trends in the UK while also illustrating the tragedy of Ariel Sharon´s continuing impunity for the massacres that took place on the outskirts of Beirut in the
two refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila 23 years ago. Please inform your contacts, friends, colleagues, and the press in your region about these recent welcome endeavours to apply international law in the UK.
Best
Laurie King-Irani, Ph.D.
North American Coordinator for the ICJVSS, 2001-2003
_____________________________________________________
indicting the dropping of a one-tonne bomb on a crowded neighbourhood in
Gaza that killed 14 people, mostly children, on July 22, 2002.
www.timesonline.co.uk
September 16, 2005
Sharon snubs Blair over war crime warrants
By Sam Knight, Times Online, and agencies
Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, has confronted Tony Blair about recent attempts by British human rights lawyers to have senior Israeli Defence Force generals arrested as they arrive in the UK, it was reported today. Israeli newspapers reported that the two men met on the sidelines of the UN summit in New York yesterday and Mr Blair extended an invitation to his counterpart to visit the UK. "I would really like to visit Britain," the Yediot Aharonot newspaper quoted Mr Sharon as replying, jokingly. "The trouble is that I, like General Almog, also served in the IDF for many years. I too am a general. I have heard that the prisons in Britain are very tough. I wouldn't like to find myself in one."
Mr Sharon was referring to the near-arrest of General Doron Almog, a former Israeli army commander, at Heathrow Airport on Sunday, and the decision of General Moshe Yaalon, the army's former chief of staff, not to attend a speaking engagement in London this weekend because of fears that he too might be arrested.
Israeli military chiefs have been alarmed by the lawsuit filed on behalf of Palestinian victims of alleged war crimes committed by the IDF in 2002 and the issuing of an arrest warrant for General Almog - who stayed on his plane and returned to Israel after being tipped by embassy staff in London.
According to Israeli Army radio, Mr Blair was said to be have been embarrassed by the exchange and to have promised to "take care of the matter". A spokeswoman for 10 Downing Street confirmed that the meeting took place today but declined to comment on the conversation.
It is not the first time that war crimes charges have been pursued abroad against Israeli military chiefs. Relatives of the victims of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut - which happened while Mr Sharon was Defence Minister - tried unsuccessfully to have him indicted for war crimes in Belgium in 2001. Lawyers from Hickman Rose, a British firm, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which is based in Gaza, are seeking to use the Geneva Conventions Act of 1957, which makes it an offence under British law for anyone of any nationality to commit a grave breach
the Geneva Convention wherever the incident takes place. The lawsuit names General Moshe Yaalon, as well as Lieutenant General Dan Halutz, Israel's current chief of staff, for their alleged role in the dropping of a one-tonne bomb on a crowded neighbourhood in Gaza that killed 14 people, mostly children, on July 22, 2002.
Meanwhile, evidence gathered by the lawyers about the demolition of homes in the Gaza Strip in 2003 prompted Bow Street Magistrates Court to issue a warrant for the arrest of General Almog, who is in charge of Israeli army in Gaza at the time, on September 10. Furious at General Almog's escape -- and the reluctance of British police to board the aircraft where he remained before flying back to Israel -- Kate Maynard and Daniel Machover, lawyers at Hickman Rose, have demanded an inquiry into how news of the arrest warrant reached the general.
Ms Maynard and Mr Machover have written to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, asking whether any information was passed through diplomatic channels to the Israeli Embassy. Emily Thornberry, a Labour MP, has also asked for an inquiry. Today a spokesman said that the Foreign Office had received the letter but that the failed arrest of General Almog was a police matter. "This is very much a matter for the Metropolitan Police to take forward if they choose," said the spokesman. "We really don't have a locus in this."
Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd.
HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPENING NOW?
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have continued their
aggression on the Gaza Strip for the third day. On
Saturday and Sunday, 24 and 25 September 2005, IOF
launched 10 aerial attacks that extra-judicially killed
four Palestinians, injured at least twenty others and
destroyed a number of civilian facilities. On Monday
morning, 26 September 2005, IOF launched five new aerial
attacks throughout the Gaza Strip, which destroyed or
damaged a number of houses and workshops and injured
three Palestinian civilians, including two women.
Israeli F-16 fighter jets have continued to launch side
raids throughout the Gaza Strip, which have destroyed
façades and windows of many houses and civilian
buildings and terrified Palestinian civilians, especially
children. In addition, IOF have continued to impose a
total siege on the Gaza Strip. These attacks are a result
of differences inside the Israeli government and
Palestinians pay the price.
According to preliminary investigations conducted by
PCHR, at approximately 19:40 on Sunday, 25 September
2005, IOF extra-judicially killed two members of the
Islamic Jihad, when Israeli military aircrafts launched a
missile at their car that was traveling on the costal
road in Sheikh 'Ejlin area in the southwest of Gaza
Strip. The car was destroyed while the two members were
inside. The two victims were identified as: Mohammed
Khalil al-Sheikh Khalil, 32; and Nasser Mohammed Barhoum,
35. Four civilian bystanders were injured by shrapnel.
At approximately 02:15 on Monday, 26 September 2005,
Israeli F-16 fighter jets launched three missiles at the
southern entrance of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza
Strip. Only one of the missiles exploded. It destroyed a
maintenance workshop for agricultural equipment belonging
to Khamis Hussein al-Majdalawi; damaged a factory of
plastics; and injured Leila Salem Abu Hashish, 20, while
she was in her home. The other two missiles made a deep
crater in the ground, but did not explode.
At approximately 04:00 on the same day, Israeli military
aircrafts launched two missiles at Martyr Majdi al-Khatib
Centre, which belongs to the Fatah movement in the center
of Rafah. The centre was partially destroyed and a
neighboring house belonging to Radi Riad Qeshta was also
damaged.
Ten minutes later, Israeli military aircrafts launched a
missile at an uninhabited house belonging to Hisham 'Abed
Rabbu, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine, in Khan Yunis refugee camp. The house was
destroyed; 6 neighboring houses where 45 individuals live
were damaged; and Khaled Mohammed Gannan, 48, and his
wife Halima Gannan, 43, were injured by shrapnel.
At approximately 04:20, Israeli military aircrafts
launched a missile at a workshop belonging to 'Omran
Khalil 'Omran in Ma'an village, east of Khan Yunis. A
neighboring paint factory was also damaged.
At approximately 04:40, Israeli military aircrafts
launched a missile at a workshop belonging to the family
of Hajj Mousa Ahmed Abu Sha'ban in 'Asqoula neighborhood
in the east of Gaza City. The workshop was severely
damaged. The same workshop was attacked by IOF more than
once during the al-Aqsa Intifada.
In a step that aims at imposing more restrictions on the
movement of Palestinian civilians and seizing more land,
the Israeli military liaison informed the Palestinian
side this morning that Palestinians would be prohibited
from moving within a 650-meter perimeter of the border
between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
PCHR strongly condemns this serious escalation in attacks
by IOF, which proves that IOF continue to substantially
occupy the Gaza Strip, despite the recent evacuation of
Israeli settlements. PCHR is gravely concerned that a
green light given to IOF by the Israeli government,
allowing them to launch wide scale attacks, including
extra-judicial killings and incursions in the Gaza Strip,
will result in more casualties among Palestinian
civilians. Consequently, PCHR calls upon the
international community and the High Contracting Parties
to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to immediately
intervene to stop further deterioration and to protect
Palestinian civilians from military operations conducted
by IOF in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Israeli soldiers watching their missiles explode in Gaza
Witnesses: Egyptian police kill
Palestinian at
Monday 12 September 2005
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C32C6D14-F5CA-4747-9022-7DE8FFC4F14B.htm
A
Palestinian has been shot dead at the Rafah border
crossing in the southern Gaza Strip just hours after the
departure of Israeli occupation forces.
Medical sources and witnesses said
Egyptian border guards opened fire on Nafez Attiyeh, 34,
while he approached a security fence at the border.
Medics said he was shot in the head. A second Palestinian
was wounded when he was shot in the thigh.But Aljazeera's
correspondent in