投稿者 ドメル将軍 日時 2001 年 11 月 20 日 21:34:43:
Butcher of Palestinians Summoned by Belgian Court
TEHRAN TIMES INTL. DESK
TEHRAN A Belgian court has summoned Zionist Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, known as the butcher of the Palestinians, to appear November 28 concerning civil suits over his role in the 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, the daily ** Le Soir ** said Monday.
The civil complaint was brought by 23 victims of the massacres or their families under a 1993 Belgian law which allows war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide to be tried in Belgian courts, regardless of where they took place or the nationality or residence of the victims or the accused.
An estimated 800 to 1,500 Palestinian refugees were brutally massacred in the Sabra and Shatila camps by Christian militiamen after Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982, when Sharon was Israeli defense minister.
Sharon was forced to resign from the post after an Israeli investigation in 1983 found him indirectly but "personally" responsible for the deaths.
The summons to appear is theoretically to be served on Sharon by the Belgian Ambassador to Israel, Wilfried Geens, AFP quoted ** Le Soir ** as saying.
The daily added that it was delayed because of the weekend visit to the Middle East by a high-level European Union mission.
Belgium holds the EU rotating presidency until the end of the year.
Israeli government officials in the Prime Minister's Office and Foreign Ministry said they had no knowledge of the existence of a summons.
The Belgian grand jury is to decide on November 28 whether the court here has jurisdiction in the case under the 1993 law.
Two related lawsuits brought last June are pending against Sharon, alleging that he was guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the massacres at the Palestinian refugee camps.
The first of the two suits, charging him with responsibility for the deaths, was lodged by an ad hoc group of Palestinian, Lebanese, Moroccan and Belgian nationals.
The second suit, alleging crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes, was filed by 23 survivors of the massacres as well as five eyewitnesses.
In the meantime, a top-level EU delegation left Israel on Monday still smarting from a veto from the Zionist state on an early resumption of dialogue with the Palestinians, in a sign of Europe's lack of influence on the Middle East conflict.
Led by Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, the delegation left for Damascus, the penultimate leg of a regional tour that is to wind up in Beirut later the same day. An Amman stop was scrapped due to scheduling problems.
Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat welcomed the European Union (EU) team with open arms in the West Bank town of Ramallah, but the reception was far colder, even hostile, in Israel.
Zionist Prime Minister Ariel Sharon; however, stuck to his guns in a meeting on Sunday with the EU envoys that was shorter than scheduled, and underlined the differences at a joint press conference.
He insisted anew on a seven-day period of total calm before a resumption of dialogue with the Palestinians, in contrast to the EU which saw the relative calm of the past two weeks as enough grounds to move onto a next stage.
EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana openly told reporters that Sharon's refusal to negotiate under fire was "stupidity," since it gave "those opposed to the peace process the chance to break it."
And Romani Prodi, the European Commission president also travelling in the delegation, said Sharon had been "very tough."
Sharon and Verhofstadt met again late Sunday for 90 minutes of unscheduled "informal" talks on "security problems" that at least enabled "points of view to be clarified," Verhofstadt's spokesman Alain Gerlache said.
Two Palestinian security officers were killed and three Zionist settlers injured in a spurt of violence in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, officials said Monday.
Israeli tanks also ploughed into Palestinian land in two raids in the Gaza Strip, while a squad of undercover Israeli troops operating in Palestinian territory seized a wanted former member of the Islamic movement Hamas.
Palestinian security officials charged that Israeli troops wounded and then deliberately killed two members of the security forces during an overnight incursion into Beit Lahia, a town on the northern edge of Gaza City.
The sources also said the troops wrecked a Palestinian police position.
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