ZGram - 4/12/2002 - "Ariel, your plane is waiting!"

irimland@zundelsite.org irimland@zundelsite.org
Fri, 12 Apr 2002 21:40:51 -0700


Copyright (c) 2002 - Ingrid A. Rimland

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

April 12, 2002

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Somebody sent me a snippet from today's Washington Post, commenting 
on the latest suicide bomber - incidentally, the Israelis would like 
you to call them "homicide bombers":

""The bomber was identified as Nidal Daraghmeh, a resident of Jenin, 
which has been the scene of the most intense fighting since Israel 
launched its West Bank incursion two weeks ago. Palestinians have 
accused Israeli troops of "a massacre" of hundreds of Palestinians in 
Jenin. Israel has denied the accusations of a massacre, but military 
officials did concede that more than a hundred Palestinians died in 
the fighting, and that the army plans to bury the bodies in a mass 
grave, to prevent the Palestinians from using the corpses to score 
propaganda points."

Do these people ever have Karma coming!

And, by the way, according to a CNN-Time poll released today, 
***"Almost two-thirds of those surveyed said the United States should 
cut off or reduce economic support if Israeli Prime Minister Ariel 
Sharon doesn't withdraw troops from Palestinian cities."***

[START]

Calls begin for war crimes trial for Israelis

By Nicholas Kralev

THE WASHINGTON TIMES


      Palestinian sympathizers in Europe and the Arab world called 
yesterday for the Israeli government to be investigated for war 
crimes, raising the prospect that leaders of the Jewish state could 
be among the first targets of the new  ____ (something accidentally 
deleted).

       That court became a reality yesterday at a U.N. signing 
ceremony in New York, with representatives of 66 countries that have 
ratified the treaty establishing the first global war-crimes 
tribunal. The United States denounced the treaty as a violation of 
international law.

      With the U.S. seat in the hall empty, U.N. Secretary-General 
Kofi Annan vowed that "those who commit war crimes, genocide or other 
crimes against humanity will no longer be beyond the reach of 
justice."

      As the Israeli incursion in the West Bank showed no signs of 
abating yesterday despite Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's 
arrival in Israel, an Israeli-Arab legislator suggested that members 
of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Cabinet be investigated for "war 
crimes" in the occupied Palestinian territories.

      Mohammad Barakeh, a communist member of the Knesset, the Israeli 
parliament, accused Mr. Sharon's government of "serious violations of 
human rights and humanitarian conventions." He named specifically Mr. 
Sharon and Defense Minister Binyamin  Ben-Eliezer.

      "The Israeli army has indiscriminately shelled refugee camps, 
using helicopters, warplanes, tanks and heavy artillery, killing 
hundreds of people. Medical assistance has been denied; hospitals 
have been shelled," Mr. Barakeh said.

      "The population is starving because of the curfew, while water 
pipes and electricity networks have been destroyed," he wrote in a 
letter to the International Court of Justice, quoted by Agence 
=46rance-Presse.

      But international legal experts said the International Criminal 
Court is a more appropriate place for such appeals to be directed 
because it can bring individuals to justice, while the International 
Court of Justice, as a U.N. organ, deals only with cases between 
states. The ICC, although negotiated by the United Nations, has its 
own statute, a U.N. official said.

      The Israeli army on March 29 began its largest military 
operation in the Palestinian territories since the 1967 war, invading 
six major West Bank cities. It said the attacks, in which more than 
200 Palestinians have been killed, were in response to a series of 
suicide bombings in Israel.

      On Tuesday, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud called for the 
Israeli leadership to be brought before the International Court of 
Justice for the "massacres" committed by the army.

      In Madrid yesterday, the Spanish judge who led international 
efforts to prosecute former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet for war 
crimes accused Israel of committing "crimes against humanity."

      Baltazar Garzon, in a statement to mark his nomination as a 
candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, said the "terrorist attacks" 
against Israel by Palestinian militants should end but that they "in 
no way authorize any state to engage in illegal responses."

      Mr. Garzon welcomed the ratification of the ICC treaty and 
called it "a key peace initiative."

      At the ceremony in New York, 10 countries brought the number of 
nations to ratify the 1998 Rome treaty to 66 =97 six more than needed 
for it to enter into force July 1. The tribunal is not expected to 
begin functioning until next year.

      The United States signed the treaty with serious reservations at 
the 11th hour in December 2000, just before President Clinton left 
office. The Bush administration has said from the start that it will 
not submit it for ratification to Congress, even though all other 
NATO members have done so.

      The administration is seriously considering withdrawing the U.S. 
signature, though no final decision has been made, State Department 
deputy spokesman Philip Reeker told reporters.

      "It has a number of fundamental problems," he said of the 
international tribunal. "It purports to assert jurisdiction over 
nationals of states not party to the treaty, contrary to the most 
basic principles of customary international law governing treaties."

      Mr. Reeker said the United States is concerned that its military 
and civilian personnel will be exposed to politically motivated 
investigations and prosecutions.

      "Accountability is a serious problem," he said. "Relatively 
unrestricted powers of the prosecutor and the court may lead to 
politicized second-guessing of a state's ability or willingness to 
investigate its own personnel."

      Rep. Henry J. Hyde, Illinois Republican and chairman of the 
House International Relations Committee, said yesterday that 
Washington should seek immunity from the court for all of its 
peacekeeping troops.

      "We would oppose any future U.S. military participation in U.N. 
peacekeeping operations where the Security Council refuses to grant 
such immunity to our personnel," he wrote in a letter to Mr. Powell.

      "The United States must begin now to implement policies to 
protect against the unintended consequences that will flow from 
establishment of the ICC," he said.

      "The ICC is more likely to hinder than help efforts to prevent 
genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity," Mr. Hyde said, 
noting that "dictators with the blood of thousands on their hands 
will scoff at the threat."

(Source:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020412-73662628.htm ]

[END]

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

Thought for the Day:

"Let us a little permit Nature to take her own way;  she better 
understands her own affairs than we."

(Montaigne)