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Sharon, Barak Among 15 Israelis Sued in New Case in Belgium
BRUSSELS, Nov 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his predecessor, Ehud Barak, are among 15 Israelis named in a new case brought in Belgium on Thursday by six Palestinian fathers of children killed during the Intifada, news agencies reported.
According to the writ, the Palestinians are "the fathers of children who died of wounds caused by bullets fired by the Israeli army," their lawyer, Marie-Christine Warlop, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
They all belong to the Justice and Peace for the Palestinian People association.
As well as Sharon and Barak, the writ also names Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer, army chief of staff General Shaul Mofaz, and 11 Israeli soldiers - both officers and other
ranks - from the Tarmiet base in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, said AFP.
According to the writ, the men "all carry a responsibility...in the murder of children in the Palestinian territories occupied by the army of the state of Israel."
Earlier, a lawyer representing 30 Israelis claiming to be victims of Palestinian attacks said they planned to sue Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in a Belgian court next week.
"The plaintiffs are people who formed themselves into an association more than 15 years ago," the lawyer, William Goldnadel, told AFP. "Most of them are people who were wounded, or whose parents were wounded or killed during attacks committed over the past 30 some years in Israel."
The case against Arafat does not relate to one single incident, said the British daily newspaper
The Guardian. It rather seeks to hold him personally responsible for the deaths of Israelis since 1966.
The new cases come ahead of a hearing on November 28 in the Brussels Appeal Court which will examine the validity of a writ against Sharon made in June by 23 victims of the massacre at Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982.
All the cases are based on a 1993 Belgian law - modified in 1999 - which gives Belgian courts universal competence to hear cases relating to war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, wherever they took place and where ever the victims live.
The June case against Sharon has caused a severe strain on relations between Israel and Belgium.
Israel says that Belgium has no power to judge Sharon.
A Belgian court earlier this week summoned Sharon to appear on November 28 in a hearing concerning civil suits over his role in the 1982 massacres of up to 2,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
The court appearance was based on a report by the Belgian daily newspaper, Le Soir.
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 that allows for such trials of foreigners in another country.
An estimated 2,000 Palestinian refugees were brutally murdered in the massacres
at the 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 Shatilla refugee camps in Beirut in 1982.
Walleyn, who thinks Israelis weren't the only ones involved in the 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.
"Everyday 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
the Belgian lawsuit probing Sharon's responsibility for the massacres.
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 Belgian law, 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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