After Gaza F-16
Attack, Sharon Proud, PA Resorts to ICC, U.S. Silent
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Salah Shehadeh
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JERUSALEM,
July 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon Tuesday congratulated his forces on the air strike that
killed the military leader Hamas in Gaza, along with 13 civilians,
including eight children. While the U.S. did not comment on the F-16
attack, the Palestinian Authority said it will file a complaint with
the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Sharon
called the raid on Gaza City that killed a total of 15 people
"one of the most successful operations" to have been carried
out by Israel's forces, Israeli Army Radio said, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
Sharon
told Ministers at a cabinet meeting dominated by the assassination of
Salah Shehadeh, the head of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's
armed wing, that "there cannot be the least concession in the
fight against terrorism."
However,
he did express his "regret for the innocent victims of this air
raid," a statement from his office said.
"We
of course have no interest in striking civilians and are always sorry
over civilians who were struck," Sharon told Ministers.
He said
Israeli security forces would be on full alert after Hamas and other
resistance groups threatened to wreak bloody revenge on Israel.
"We
hit the top operational leader of Hamas who had in particular carried
out a reorganization of Hamas forces in the northern West Bank, as
well as operating in the Gaza Strip," Sharon's office quoted the
premier as saying.
In a
clear twist of the ongoing policies of the Israeli government,
opposing any attempts to solve the Middle East crisis, Sharon’s
statement mentioned the word “peace”.
"I
repeat we cannot reach peace while making concessions to terrorism, we
have to fight it and beat it," he said.
Israeli
Public Radio said Sharon and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer
"personally" gave the green light to the attack, in which a
1,000 pound (400 kilo) rocket from an F-16 fighter bomber hit the Gaza
City apartment complex where Shehadeh had his home.
Israeli
Interior Minister Eli Yishai said the security cabinet, on which he
sits, had not been convened or consulted before the raid.
"It
is possible there was a mistake in the way this operation was carried
out, but that can happen in any war situation," he told army
radio.
In
Washington, there was no comment from the U.S. administration on the
attack, which, according to international law, amounts to war crime
and a crime against humanity. The U.S. is always quick to slam any
Palestinian resistance operation against the Israeli occupation,
whether a bomb operation inside Israel or an attack against Israeli
soldiers in the occupied areas.
U.S.
President George W. Bush has, apparently, made the removal of
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat his top priority, claiming Arafat was
not doing enough to control violence. However, Bush stopped short of
even condemning the killing of innocent children and women under the
rubble of their homes.
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Sharon, right, gave the greenline for Gaza
massacre. |
For its
part, the PA declared it would file a complaint with the ICC over the
Israeli air strike on Gaza City.
"We
will ask the ICC for an urgent trial over the crime against humanity
carried out last night by the occupation forces," Nabil Abu
Rudeina said, in reference to the Israeli missile attack.
"This
will be a real test for this court. We hope the trial will start
immediately, to look into Sharon's policies, which have destroyed the
peace process and all international efforts to put it back on
track," he told AFP.
The
ICC, a follow-up to the specific courts set up for the conflicts in
the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, investigates and prosecutes alleged
crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes.
Its
jurisdiction began on July 1, but no cases have yet been brought to
it, and Israel is one of the countries which have refused to ratify
its 1998 founding treaty.
Israel
has even declared it would take steps, media gag included, to protect
its officers and officials from being legally tried before the
ICC.
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