Israel Prepares To Fight War Crimes Claims After UN Gaza Report
JERUSALEM — Stung by a damning U.N. report alleging war crimes in Gaza, Israel is taking extraordinary steps to fend off potential international prosecution of its political and military leaders, hiring high-powered attorneys, lobbying Western governments and launching a public relations blitz.
Israel has dismissed the U.N. investigation into its winter offensive in the Gaza strip as biased, but its latest moves show it is clearly concerned.
The U.N. report appears to have energized pro-Palestinian groups that have hoped for years to bring Israelis before courts in countries that recognize the concept of "universal jurisdiction" – trying people for crimes unrelated to their own territory or nationals.
Most recently, British activists attempted this week to have Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak arrested during a trip to Britain for war crimes connected to his role in the Gaza war. Barak was untouched – but only because the court that considered the request ruled that he enjoyed immunity as a Cabinet minister.
But the incident raised the prospect that Israelis might find it increasingly difficult to travel to European countries that recognize universal jurisdiction.
The U.N. report issued last month by Richard Goldstone, a Jewish judge from South Africa and experienced war crimes prosecutor, accused the Israelis of using excessive force and endangering civilians.
It also accused Gaza's Hamas rulers of war crimes by firing rockets indiscriminately at civilian areas in Israel.
The U.N. Human Rights Council, which commissioned the report, had been expected to vote to endorse it in Geneva on Friday.
But the Palestinian Authority, under heavy pressure from the United States, has withdrawn its support for a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution on alleged war crimes in Gaza, diplomats in Geneva said Thursday.
U.N. and European diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with reporters, said the Palestinian delegation's surprise turnaround means any resolution on the report would likely be delayed until next March.
Although the Palestinians aren't voting members of the 47-nation rights council, Arab and Muslim countries who control the body may be reluctant to press ahead with the resolution Friday without Palestinian support.
A senior U.S. official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Palestinian decision came after "intense diplomacy" by Washington to convince the Palestinian leadership that going ahead with the resolution would harm the Middle East peace process.
"The Palestinians recognized that this was not the best time to go forward with this," the U.S. official said.
Endorsement by the U.N. Human Rights Council could ultimately lead to a war crimes trial before the International Criminal Court, although that seems to be a long shot because the most likely route to the court would be through the U.N. Security Council.
The U.S., which as a permanent member of the Security Council holds veto power over its resolutions, would likely block a referral because of its close ties to Israel and out of fear that the same logic could be applied against U.S. officials engaged in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Washington already has reacted coolly toward the Goldstone report.
The obstacles to using the ICC may put pressure on national courts, such as the one in Britain that heard the request to arrest Barak, to take the lead in hearing such cases.
There have been a series of attempts in recent years by Palestinian groups to target Israeli leaders and military commanders with war crimes allegations.
In 2001, activists tried to bring then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to trial in Belgium in connection with a 1982 massacre at a Beirut refugee camp, and in 2005 a retired Irsaeli general stayed aboard his plane in London after he was tipped off that police were waiting to arrest him outside. Earlier this year, a Spanish judge shelved an investigation of seven Israeli officials involved in a 2002 airstrike in Gaza that killed a Hamas militant and 14 civilians.
Those efforts all failed, but Israel is clearly bracing now for an intensified campaign.
"The (Goldstone) report clearly says those war crimes should be properly investigated, and that if Israel fails to investigate, that other courts could," said Tayab Ali, one of the lawyers representing 16 Palestinian families in the Barak case in London.
"How much higher do you need to go than the United Nations to establish that war crimes occurred?"
Concerned that government officials and military officers traveling abroad could face war crimes charges, a task force of government legal experts and military attorneys set up to protect such officials involved in Israeli military operations has gone into "high gear," a government official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.
The task force also plans to hire lawyers abroad with knowledge of specific national legal systems on a case by case basis.
Ironically, Israel finds itself a target of international legislation it was instrumental in advancing, said Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli justice minister.
Beginning in the 1950s, Israel – eager to see Nazi war criminals brought to justice – was heavily involved in creating international legislation and mechanisms to deny war criminals the opportunity to seek refuge outside the countries in which they operated, Beilin said.
Immunity itself, as a concept, might also come under attack, said Geoffrey Robertson, a leading expert on international law.
"The time will come when diplomatic immunity gives way to actual justice," he said.
Israel's three-week war against Gaza's militant Hamas followed eight years of unrelenting rocket and mortar barrages on Israeli targets. Some 1,400 Palestinians were killed, including more than 900 civilians, according to Palestinian officials and human rights groups. Thirteen Israelis were also killed. Israel says most of the dead in Gaza were armed militants and that civilians were hurt because Hamas fighters took cover in residential areas.
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Associated Press writers Paisley Dodds in London and Frank Jordans in Geneva contributed to this report.
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AMY TEIBEL and PAISLEY DODDS | 10/ 1/09 08:41 PM |