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<font size=4 color="#FF0000"><b>2 Articles follow<br><br>
</font><font size=4>Spanish court opens war crimes investigation into
2002 attack on Gaza<br>
</b></font><font size=3>
<a href="http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4670&Itemid=1" eudora="autourl">
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4670&Itemid=1<br>
<br>
</a>30.01.09 - 16:14 <br><br>
Gaza / PNN - On Thursday the Spanish National Court issued its formal
decision to investigate Israeli leaders for war crimes. <br><br>
As the highest Spanish judicial council, the court joined legal experts
throughout the world in taking to task the Israelis for acts against the
Gaza Strip.<br><br>
While many of the cases currently being sent to The Hague, and those in
other national courts, focus on the major attacks on Gaza which began 27
December, decades of war crimes charges have been filed in the
past.<br><br>
The Spanish court is focusing on seven former senior Israeli military
officials suspected to have committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip in
2002. <br><br>
Former Defense Minister and current Infrastructure Minister Benjamin
Ben-Eliezer, his former military advisor, Michael Herzog, former Israeli
Army Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon, former Commander of the Israeli Air
Force Dan Halutz, former Head of the Israeli Intelligence Service, Avi
Dichter, former Head of the Israeli Southern Command Doron Almog, and
former Head of the Israeli National Security Council Giora Eiland were
called yesterday to present themselves to the Spanish National Court
within 30 days. If they do not, the court will issue international
warrants for their arrests.<br><br>
In addition to this decision, described as “ground-breaking” by the
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza City, the Spanish court
announced that “if intent to exterminate the Palestinian population” can
be proven the charge may be increased to genocide. <br><br>
The Spanish court is dealing with the assassination of Salah Shehada on
22 July 2002. It was at approximately midnight that an Israeli warplane
dropped a 2,000 pound bomb on the home of the Al Qassam Brigades leader.
The attack killed Shehada and 17 other people including his wife and
daughter, his bodyguard, and eight children. One of the children was just
two months old. Also killed were two elderly men and two women. This was
a major attack in the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City that completely
destroyed 11 houses and injured 77 other civilians.<br><br>
The PCHR in Gaza City undertook the case, bringing the lawsuit via the
National Court of Spain in June 2008. “….after lengthy consultations with
international legal experts indicted the possibility of launching
universal jurisdiction cases regarding war crimes committed by IOF. The
Centre notes that similar cases of suspected war crimes have previously
been filed in Israeli courts, but did not lead to successful
prosecutions. On the contrary, the Israeli judiciary has been used as a
legal cover for the perpetration of war crimes against the Palestinian
population, and as a tool to deliberately hinder international
jurisdiction under the pretext of a ‘fair’ national judicial system
operating in Israel,” reads a news release welcoming Thursday’s court
decision. <br><br>
As described by the PCHR, the well-respected organization “previously
filed a lawsuit in the UK against former Head of the Israeli Army
Southern Commend, Doron Almog, for committing grave breaches of the
Fourth Geneva Convention during his army service, (considered a criminal
offense in the UK under the Geneva Conventions of 1949) Almog arrived in
the UK on 10 September 2005, after a warrant had been issued for his
arrest. Having been informed of the warrant before he disembarked, Almog
subsequently fled straight back to Israel on the same plane.”<br><br>
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</font><h1><font size=4><b>Spanish Judge accepts PCHR lawsuit against
senior Israeli officials, Israel to appeal
decision</b></font></h1><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.imemc.org/article/58696" eudora="autourl">
http://www.imemc.org/article/58696<br>
</a>Friday January 30, 2009 11:47 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC &
Agencies <br><br>
</font>A Spanish judge accepted a lawsuit filed by the Palestinian Center
for Human Rights (PCHR) against senior Israeli officials for committing
war crimes against the Palestinian people after the officials gave the go
ahead for shelling the house of a senior Hamas leader in 2002, killing 15
Palestinians and wounding more than 100, the Arabs48 news website
reported.<br><br>
At least nine of the casualties in the shelling were children and women.
The Israeli Army dropped a 15 ton bomb on the house of Salah Shihada, a
Hamas leader. <br><br>
The Spanish Judge, Fernando Andreu, accepted the lawsuit, which was filed
by the PCHR, and sent two letters; one to Israel informing Israeli
officials that a probe is underway, and the second to the Palestinian
Authority informing them that the case has been accepted. <br><br>
Israel claims that Shihada is responsible for hundreds of attacks against
Israeli targets, and considers him the person in charge of communication
between the political and military leaders of Hamas.<br><br>
He was considered in charge of all Hamas’ military actions since the
beginning of the al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000.<br><br>
One of the Israeli officials charged of committing war crimes is
Infrastructure Minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer. Six other former, and
current officials are also facing the same charges. <br><br>
Ben- Eliezer was serving as the Israeli Defense Minister at the time of
the attack. After the Spanish judge announced his decision, Ben-Eliezer
described the decision as “ridiculous and outrageous”.<br><br>
Ben- Eliezer added that “terror groups are using the international courts
and democracies to file lawsuits against those who counter terrorism”.
<br><br>
Judge Andreu said that Shihada is a densely populated civilian area, and
targeting it could constitute a crime against humanity, Israeli online
daily Haaretz reported. <br><br>
The Israeli embassy in Madrid started preparing documents in cooperation
with Israeli officials to justify the attack. <br><br>
Several Israeli officials said that Israel is now preparing itself for a
wave of lawsuits by human rights groups for attacks in Gaza, and in other
Palestinian areas. <br><br>
They added that they fear Israel would be forced to accept international
probes, or its officials would be facing personal lawsuits in different
countries similar to a lawsuit in Britain against Israeli officials for
committing war crimes against the Palestinian people. <br><br>
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