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)