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<font size=3>Suit filed in the Hague for crimes against humanity<br>
<a href="http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4503&Itemid=1" eudora="autourl">
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4503&Itemid=1<br>
<br>
</a>14.01.09 - 14:30 <br><br>
Brussels / PNN - Lawyers and jurists from several countries filed on
Wednesday a lawsuit before the International Criminal Court in The
Hague.<br><br>
This is the first in an expected string of suits against the Israeli
government and senior political and military officials for crimes against
humanity, war crimes and genocide stemming from the current military
operation against the Gaza Strip.<br><br>
As part of a series of claims against the Israelis, the “Palestinian
Forum” in the Netherlands and the Brussels-based “European Campaign to
Lift the Siege on Gaza” are involved in the cooperative effort.<br>
<br>
In conjunction with the date of the lawsuit the “Palestinian Forum”
called for a mass protest and sit-in in front of the International
Criminal Court, affirming the need for leaders to condemn the Israeli
occupation for crimes against humanity in Gaza. <br><br>
Amin Abu Rashid, Secretary General of the Palestinian Forum in the
Netherlands and a founding member of the European Campaign, said the move
comes in light of the actions of Israeli forces including “the ugly
massacres.” He also noted the “collective rights of the Palestinian
people in the Gaza Strip,” drawing attention to the nearly 1,000 killed
and over 4,000 wounded.<br><br>
Abu Rashid stressed that "the continuation of this war imposes
obligations on all human rights defenders and those involved in justice.”
He called for the intensification of collective efforts to stop this
aggression and to ensure that those involved in perpetration will be held
accountable.<br><br>
“It is no longer possible for people of conscience to stand idly by in
the face of this chilling aggression and these rising massacres. Now is
the time for urgent moves in every direction to curb the aggression and
to curb the Israeli war machine that in the past has committed mass
murder with impunity.”<br><br>
The Netherlands-based Palestinian Forum leader added that inaction “makes
us witnesses to the brutal aggression perpetrated by the most powerful
military force in the Middle East.”<br><br>
Suits are planned to be filed for all of the one and half million
residents of the Gaza Strip.<br><br>
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