<font size="5"><center>Israel fears war crime trials</font size></center>
The Standard
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Three weeks after a cease-fire ended its war against Hezbollah guerrillas, Israel is increasingly worried that government officials and army officers traveling abroad may face war crimes charges over the country's actions in Lebanon.
A Foreign Ministry official said a legal team is preparing to provide protection for officers and officials involved in the 34-day conflict.
Some 1,200 Lebanese and 200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have died in operations launched in Lebanon and Gaza after three Israeli soldiers were abducted in two border raids.
Israel has said all its actions were legal and accused Hezbollah of hiding among civilians and targeting Israeli civilians with rocket attacks.
The fighting also left 159 Israelis dead, including 39 civilians hit by rockets in Israel's northern cities.
The Foreign Ministry official said the legal defense team, which includes representatives from the Justice and Defense ministries, is maintained by the government to help officials facing the possibility of war crimes charges abroad. It was first put together to deal with charges related to Israeli actions in the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel, which insists its armed forces act within international norms and accuses its foes of inviting civilian casualties by operating within populated areas, is also warning civil servants and military officers to watch what they say about the Lebanese and Palestinian conflicts. Some talk, it fears could invite war-crimes lawsuits.
A ministry memorandum issued to Israel's military and other government agencies urges officials to avoid belligerent remarks that could potentially be used to back up allegations they were complicit in excessive use of force.
"The type of language now considered off-limits includes `crushing' the enemy, and `cleansing,' `leveling' or `wiping out' suspected enemy emplacements," said a source who saw the memo. The memo also censures an official who called for Israel to respond to rockets on the port city of Haifa by "getting rid of a village in Lebanon."
The memo says numerous war crimes lawsuits against Israeli officials are being prepared. It cites venues such as France, Belgium and Britain.
Three Moroccan lawyers said last month they were suing Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz over the recent offensives in Lebanon and Gaza.
And Israel Radio reported that a Danish lawmaker tried to have Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni detained and prosecuted during a recent visit to Copenhagen, but a request for an arrest warrant was rejected by prosecutors.
Israeli fears of prosecution abroad are also based on earlier experience.
Arriving in London last year, Doron Almog, a retired general who had commanded Israeli forces in Gaza, was tipped off by an Israeli diplomat that he was about to be arrested by British authorities over a 2002 airstrike that killed a Hamas leader and 14 others, nine of them children. Almog remained on the aircraft and returned to Israel.
In 2001, then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faced a lawsuit in Belgium over his role in a 1982 massacre in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut.
Several former Israeli army chiefs of staff have also been targeted. But none of the cases have succeeded.
Daniel Machover, a British attorney involved in attempts to prosecute Israeli officers said he knew of "at least two" teams compiling evidence in Lebanon.
ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=17&art_id=26582&sid=9731506&con_type=1
The Standard
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Three weeks after a cease-fire ended its war against Hezbollah guerrillas, Israel is increasingly worried that government officials and army officers traveling abroad may face war crimes charges over the country's actions in Lebanon.
A Foreign Ministry official said a legal team is preparing to provide protection for officers and officials involved in the 34-day conflict.
Some 1,200 Lebanese and 200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have died in operations launched in Lebanon and Gaza after three Israeli soldiers were abducted in two border raids.
Israel has said all its actions were legal and accused Hezbollah of hiding among civilians and targeting Israeli civilians with rocket attacks.
The fighting also left 159 Israelis dead, including 39 civilians hit by rockets in Israel's northern cities.
The Foreign Ministry official said the legal defense team, which includes representatives from the Justice and Defense ministries, is maintained by the government to help officials facing the possibility of war crimes charges abroad. It was first put together to deal with charges related to Israeli actions in the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel, which insists its armed forces act within international norms and accuses its foes of inviting civilian casualties by operating within populated areas, is also warning civil servants and military officers to watch what they say about the Lebanese and Palestinian conflicts. Some talk, it fears could invite war-crimes lawsuits.
A ministry memorandum issued to Israel's military and other government agencies urges officials to avoid belligerent remarks that could potentially be used to back up allegations they were complicit in excessive use of force.
"The type of language now considered off-limits includes `crushing' the enemy, and `cleansing,' `leveling' or `wiping out' suspected enemy emplacements," said a source who saw the memo. The memo also censures an official who called for Israel to respond to rockets on the port city of Haifa by "getting rid of a village in Lebanon."
The memo says numerous war crimes lawsuits against Israeli officials are being prepared. It cites venues such as France, Belgium and Britain.
Three Moroccan lawyers said last month they were suing Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz over the recent offensives in Lebanon and Gaza.
And Israel Radio reported that a Danish lawmaker tried to have Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni detained and prosecuted during a recent visit to Copenhagen, but a request for an arrest warrant was rejected by prosecutors.
Israeli fears of prosecution abroad are also based on earlier experience.
Arriving in London last year, Doron Almog, a retired general who had commanded Israeli forces in Gaza, was tipped off by an Israeli diplomat that he was about to be arrested by British authorities over a 2002 airstrike that killed a Hamas leader and 14 others, nine of them children. Almog remained on the aircraft and returned to Israel.
In 2001, then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faced a lawsuit in Belgium over his role in a 1982 massacre in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut.
Several former Israeli army chiefs of staff have also been targeted. But none of the cases have succeeded.
Daniel Machover, a British attorney involved in attempts to prosecute Israeli officers said he knew of "at least two" teams compiling evidence in Lebanon.
ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=17&art_id=26582&sid=9731506&con_type=1
