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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 International Criminal
Court.
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
France-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 —
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."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020412-73662628.htm
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