KUWAIT, April 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – A group of Kuwaiti lawyers plan to take legal procedures to file a lawsuit against hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the International Court of Law for the atrocities committed against Palestinians in Jenin’s refugee camp during the current Israeli military offensive.

Speaking to the Kuwaiti daily newspaper, Al Watan, on Sunday, April 14, Nasser Al Haifi, the trustee of the Kuwaiti Lawyers’ Association made the announcement that they will demand Sharon be tried as a war criminal.

“This idea has been around ever since the start of the intifada in the Palestinian occupied territories, but it was completed after the invitation which was put forward by Jasem Al Khurafi, the head of the Kuwaiti parliament following the heated demonstrations that filled Kuwaiti streets last week.”

Al Haifi said that there is no law in the world that would permit Sharon to commit the atrocities that he committed against the innocent men, women and children, adding that what he is committing is beyond human comprehension. He added that the rules of war in any part of the world insists on treating detainees in a humane and civilized manner, but the Israeli occupation forces obstructed ambulances from reaching the wounded. This leaves the injured and dead on the streets and anyone who tries to take away the bodies is sniped by the soldiers.

Al Haifi added that the human conscience places an obligation on lawyers in the world to unite and cooperate in order to stand by the Palestinians and to present “this criminal to the International Court of Law as a war criminal.” He added that “What Sharon is doing now is not less than what Slobodan Milosevic did, and he (Milosevic) is now facing the International Court of Law.”

Mohammad Baraka, the Arab member in the Israeli Knesset said in a statement published by Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Sharon, the Israeli Minister of Defense Benjamin Eliezer, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Israeli army Shaul Mofaz must all be tried for the crimes committed against Palestinians since the military offensive that started March 29.

By mid-2000, the Belgian courts had received several law suits against Sharon suing him as a war criminal for the Sabra and Shatila massacres in 1982.

Several Arab and Egyptian human rights organizations have started gathering data that proves Sharon’s involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity, not only in the past but also during the last military offensive.

Mohammad Faeq, director of the Arab Association for Human Rights said that he has decided to legally pursue Sharon as a war criminal.

He said that he felt he will succeed especially since the Knesset itself holds Sharon responsible for the Sabra and Shatila massacre.

Faeq added that there was also a recommendation in the Knesset to not allow Sharon be Minister of Defense but that Faeq was surprised when they chose Sharon for the most senior position in the government.

Faeq stated that he will cooperate with the group of lawyers that filed the law suits in Belgium and with the Lebanese victims of the massacre who have also filed law suits in Lebanese courts.

He said that he is coordinating with a Palestinian group of workers to document the atrocities that were committed in the refugee camp of Jenin. He also said that he will make use of Egyptian documents in the ministry of defense that included the confessions of an Israeli general who spoke of massacres committed against Egyptian prisoners of war.

Dr. Ibrahim Al Anani, professor of international law in Ain Shams University in Egypt said that there is a better chance now to prove Sharon’s involvement in a variety of crimes, all of which could lead him to the International Court of Law.

He added that in order to seriously develop this vital issue, Arab countries were affected by Sharon’s crimes must present the Security Council with a proposal to form an International Court similar to the one that was set up for the Serb criminals.

If, he added, the United States used the veto to obstruct the formation of this court, then Arab and Islamic countries in the United Nations must ask for the application of the 1950 United for Peace Declaration which tackles issues that the security council fails to deal with.