ZGram - 8/9/2002 - "The hot seat is still waiting for Sharon"

[irimland@zundelsite.org]

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

August 9, 2002

This story is still alive and kicking! 

Even if nothing comes of it, it finds ways to be spread in the media 
- and it seems to grind away at the enemy's paranoid mind:

[START}

Israel to block Belgian law meant to allow Sharon trial 
(By Reuters)    

BRUSSELS - Israel will try to block Belgian legislation that could 
pave the way for further war crimes cases to be brought against Prime 
Minister Ariel Sharon, a Foreign Ministry official said on Thursday.

Relations between the two countries soured when a Palestinian and 
Lebanese group used a disputed Belgian law to file a complaint 
against Sharon over his role in a 1982 massacre at Palestinian 
refugee camps in Beirut.

A Brussels appeals court dismissed the case - brought under a 1999 
law granting Belgian courts universal jurisdiction over serious human 
rights abuses - on grounds of Sharon's absence.

Relations between Israel and Brussels looked set to improve after the 
June ruling but suffered another setback when senators drew up a bill 
last month that would no longer require a suspect to live in Belgium 
to be prosecuted under the law.

"We're taking it very seriously. We thought the case was over but the 
new law could allow a new complaint," Israeli embassy official 
Laurent Reichman told Reuters.

"It's logical that we'll try to use political means to block it," he 
added. "We're going to act pre-emptively, but we don't yet know how."

Belgium's ambassador to Israel has been to brief senior Israeli 
government officials twice since the draft law was drawn up three 
weeks ago.

"There's probably been a certain level of misunderstanding that is 
unduly affecting bilateral relations," Belgian Foreign Ministry 
spokesman Patrick Herman told Reuters.

"It (the bill) has been regarded in some Israeli circles as targeting 
the prime minister because of the legal proceedings that were 
initiated in Belgium. We think this issue has been blown out of 
proportion by the Israeli media," he said.

Herman said the legislation was not aimed at Sharon and noted that 
other leaders were the subject of similar lawsuits.

Foreign Minister Louis Michel, who is on holiday, is expected to take 
up the matter on his return.

"Foreign Minister Michel is following the case very closely," Herman 
said. "He himself will want to explain the situation to try and make 
sure the current misunderstanding doesn't affect relations with 
Belgium."

Michel would probably discuss the draft law with Israel's ambassador 
in Brussels, although he has also talked about visiting Israel, 
Herman said.

When Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt visited Israel as part of a 
European Union delegation last year in the wake of the lawsuit, the 
mayor of Jerusalem said he should "go to hell." The case prompted 
Sharon to cancel a trip to Brussels in July 2001.

[END]

(Source: 
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=195687>  
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