U.S. Lawyers
File Palestinian Suit Against Sharon, Bush
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Lead
attorney Stanley Cohen announced the initiation of a lawsuit
against Sharon, Bush and other officials and businesses
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By
Ayesha Ahmad, IOL Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON,
July 18 (IslamOnline) - A team of U.S. lawyers has filed a lawsuit
against Israeli and U.S. officials, including President George W.
Bush, on behalf of Palestinian-Americans who suffered atrocities at
the hands of Israel and her U.S. supporters, from the 1982 Sabra and
Shatilla massacres to war crimes in the most recent intifada, or
uprising.
“The
world has stood silent, and that is why we will not be silent,” said
Stanley Cohen, the lead attorney for the team filing the lawsuit
Tuesday, July 16, in U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, at a press
conference Wednesday, July 17.
“These
Palestinian-Americans seek nothing more of this court than that which
they have been denied for more than five decades,” Cohen said,
pausing to subdue emotion choking his voice.
Speaking
to a packed room at the National Press Club, Cohen summarized the
backgrounds of the central defendants named in the lawsuit -
Israel’s current prime minister, Ariel Sharon, for his actions as
Prime Minister and as defense minister in 1982, and other Israeli
officials, as well as Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Cohen
told reporters about a government-sponsored bill that was presented to
the Israeli Knesset Tuesday that was to protect Israel against
lawsuits from Palestinians and other civilians; the outspoken attorney
then ripped up a piece of paper in his hands, saying, “Mr. Sharon,
that’s Israel. This is the United States.”
Companies
such as Boeing, McDonnell-Douglas Helicopter Systems and Textron are
included in the charges - for manufacturing and selling “the weapons
of death and destruction to Israel,” Cohen said - as are a number of
Israeli settlements and supporters of those settlements, which are
illegal under international law.
The
charges being brought against the defendants include genocide, war
crimes, crimes against humanity, racketeering - in terms of the money
that goes to support Israeli actions - acts of murder, acts of
torture, bodily harm, kidnapping, and “a whole slew of other
charges,” Cohen said.
The
lawyers are demanding of the U.S. president that he act in accordance
with the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751), and immediately
present a report to Congress on the use of U.S. arms exported to
Israel in light of “overwhelming evidence,” that those arms are
being used against innocent civilians.
Bush
and Powell are not being sued for war crimes, Cohen said, adding that
the team did consider it. The U.S. president is accused of failing
“to fulfill his statutory responsibilities under the Arms Export
Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act,” and Powell is accused
of failing “to fulfill his statutory responsibilities of monitoring
and reporting any misuse of arms provided to foreign states by the
United States,” the complaint states.
Cohen
told IslamOnline that this was the first lawsuit of its kind -
bringing together so many issues - that demanded direct action on the
Arms Export Control Act, although challenges have been raised before,
without much success.
Although
hundreds of requests from Palestinian victims were received by the
team when they began their research about a year ago, along with
Solidarity International - a Washington-based group formed after
September 11 to help Muslim Americans - the team selected 21
plaintiffs, all of whom remain anonymous in the suit.
Eighteen
of the plaintiffs are U.S. citizens; two are resident aliens, and one
is a survivor of the massacre at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps
in Lebanon.
Cohen
told reporters that he expected the lawsuit to expand into a
class-action suit; “We are talking about challenging…the
discretion that Israel has gotten from the U.S.,” he said.
He
acknowledged that there would likely be heavy media pressure against
him and against the lawsuit, but was not ruffled by the prospect.
“I’ve spent years being who I am,” he said. “I am a firm
believer that the truth always comes out one way or another.”
He
said he was optimistic about the lawsuit, despite the obstacles in its
way. “The team will work hard… we won’t be bought,” he told
IslamOnline.
Having
spent time in Palestine and Israel, Cohen addressed a statement to
those who are actually suffering on the ground, saying that his work
was the easy part compared to what they had to endure.
“To
my brothers and sisters in Palestine,” Cohen said, “You are not
alone. We will fight, we will work, we will struggle…because, never
again.”
“Sound
familiar, Mr. Sharon? Never again.”
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