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Sharon Summoned to Appear Before Belgian Court
BRUSSELS, Nov. 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A Belgian court has summoned hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to appear November 28, concerning civil suits over his role in the 1982 massacres of up to 2,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said Monday.
The court appearance was based on a report by the Belgian daily newspaper, Le Soir.
Twenty-three Palestinian victims of the massacres of their families brought the civil complaint against the Israeli premier.
The June 18 complaint demanded that Sharon, who was defense minister at the time of the massacres, be indicted for crimes against humanity in accordance with Belgian law, which allows for such trials of foreigners in another country.
A 1993 Belgian law allows war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide to be tried in Belgian courts regardless of where they took place or the nationality or residence of the victims or the accused.
An estimated 2,000 Palestinian refugees were brutally murdered in the massacres in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps led by Maronite Christian militiamen during Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Sharon, then Israel's defense minister, was the architect of the military campaign.
Sharon was found indirectly responsible for the massacres by an Israeli commission of inquiry and was forced to resign.
Belgium has long resisted pressure from the Israeli government to amend its 1993 law under which Sharon could face prosecution in Belgium for crimes against humanity.
On the sidelines of an Arab conference on racism in Cairo in July, Belgian lawyer Marc Walleyn said the Belgian government had deferred debate on an amendment, which would give Sharon immunity until at least next year.
"There was clearly pressure on the Belgian government to do something to change the law, but the government resisted to that pressure," Walleyn was quoted by AFP as saying then.
Brussels decided not to move to change the no-immunity law, "at least not this year," Walleyn told a packed press conference. He added that an "important threat" to the investigation had been averted.
Current law in Belgium means there is no immunity for public officials, even members of the Belgian parliament, in cases of crimes against humanity, war crimes, or acts of genocide, he said.
Walleyn, as well as lawyers Michael Verhaeghe and Shibli Mallat, are taking action against Sharon before the Belgian courts on behalf of 23 survivors of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut in 1982.
Walleyn, who thinks Israelis weren't the only ones involved in the Sabra and Shatila massacres, was quoted by CNN as saying: "The responsibility of the Israelis is that they discussed the whole matter together with the Phalangist leaders and they decided to ask the Phalangist militia to clean up these camps."
"So, during three days," added Walleyn, "the Israeli army was surrounding the camp, was controlling the camp, knew what was happening there and they just let it be done because they had the same purpose, to eliminate the Palestinian presence."
Also speaking at the July press conference in Cairo was one of the Palestinian plaintiffs, Mohammed Abu Rudeina, who was six years old when he lost most of his family in the massacre. At times, he appeared to be holding back tears.
"Every day I think about the massacre," he said, blaming Sharon, "who cannot live without blood," for robbing him of a normal life.
Earlier in July, former Lebanese intelligence chief Elie Hobeika announced he would testify in a Belgian lawsuit probing Sharon's responsibility.
Hobeika, 44, was intelligence chief of the right-wing Christian Lebanese Forces militia at the time of the killings. He was identified by an official Israeli inquiry in 1983 as the man who ordered the massacres. Hobeika said he wants to clear his name and that of Lebanon's Christians.
"I openly declare that I am very satisfied that the Sabra and Shatilla case has been brought to Belgium, perhaps giving me the first opportunity in 19 years to tell the truth and defend myself and my reputation ... and get cleared of this accusation," Hobeika said.
Hobeika claimed he has "irrefutable proof" of his innocence in the killings on September 16-18, 1982.
He further asserted at a news conference that, "this is the appropriate moment to act after a long silence".
The Lebanese Forces militia was allied at the time of the massacres with Israel. But Hobeika later became a close ally of Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon and Israel's most implacable enemy in the Middle East.
A Brussels magistrate had ruled that Sharon could face genocide charges in Belgium for the massacres.
The matter has cooled relations between Israel and Belgium, which currently chairs the European Union.
While traveling to Berlin on July 5 to meet Sharon on a European tour, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said he was against the suit being brought against Sharon in Belgium.
A member of Sharon's delegation said that Michel had told the Israeli leader - during informal talks in Berlin - that the case had created "an embarrassing situation" for the Belgian government.
But Michel said that, as in any democracy, Belgium observes a separation of powers that does not allow the government to intervene in the judiciary, the delegation source said.
The source added that Michel said the Belgian government would nonetheless attempt to pass a law to avoid these types of cases.
But, commenting on the possibility of amending a Belgian law that allows the trial of foreigners in another country, Belgian socialist senator, Philippe Mahoux, said: "I don't think we should change the law's universal jurisdiction. We should ensure its continuity," CNN reported.
"In other words," he added, "I think for crimes of this nature wherever they are committed, whatever the nationality of the perpetrator, whatever the nationality of the victims we have to be able to prosecute without regard to territorial limits."
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