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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (3853)	2/12/2003 7:58:01 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15987

Maybe Reuters had it right after all (in which case the AP screwed up): Ambassador recalled to protest Belgian decision on Sharon By HERB KEINON Advertisement Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu recalled Ambassador to Belgium Yehuda Kenar for consultations Wednesday night. The move came to protest the ruling by Belgium's Supreme Court that Ariel Sharon can be tried for war crimes once he no longer enjoys immunity as prime minister. The ruling opened the way for survivors of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre to press their case in Belgian courts once Sharon leaves office. "This decision is scandalous, and it legitimates terror and damages those who fight terrorism," Netanyahu said in a statement. "Belgium is not only hurting Israel but the entire free world, and Israel will respond to it very severely." Netanyahu said those who are fighting terror are turned into the accused, while the terrorists are turned into the victors. In addition to recalling Kenar, he also intends to summon Belgian Ambassador Wilfred Geens to the Foreign Minister on Thursday to protest the decision. "This is a victory for international justice and for the victims," Luc Walleyn, one of lawyers for the plaintiffs, told Reuters at the courthouse. The survivors had appealed against a lower court ruling last June that Sharon could not be prosecuted for the massacre because he was not in Belgium. The plaintiffs are using a Belgian law which gives the state universal jurisdiction to try suspected war criminals, even if they are not Belgian citizens and even if the actions they allegedly committed did not take place on Belgian soil or involve Belgians. One senior diplomatic official said after the ruling that the law can now be taken to absurd extremes. US or British soldiers who may soon be engaged in a war in Iraq may find themselves on trial in Belgian court in a few years because someone, somewhere, believes they committed war crimes and decides to file a legal complaint in Brussels. "We view very gravely Belgium's arrogating to itself the right to deal with issues that are none of its business, while exploiting and abusing events of the past through judicial means to slander and attack Israel," the official said. He said the entire case against Sharon shows "how the legal systems in a country can be used and abused for political reasons." Sharon, as he has throughout the legal proceedings over the last 18 months, did not respond to the ruling. "He does not see this as a personal issue, but an issue of principle," the official said. "They are not attacking Sharon, but Israel." Although Sharon enjoys immunity, Defense Ministry Director-General Amos Yaron, one of the chief Intelligence Corps officers in the area at the time, who was also named in the complaint, does not. Daniel Shek, head of the Foreign Ministry's European Division, said that "for us legal action against any Israeli citizen the prime minister or anybody else in Belgium or elsewhere is problematic and unacceptable." Shek said that in the next few days the government will study the decision and decide on its course of action. While this legal process has played itself out, Shek said, there have been negative repercussions on relations with Belgium. "We had hoped the court's decision would end this unfortunately that is not the case," he said. "I'm afraid the relations between the two countries can not go back to normal, as we had hoped." A senior Belgian diplomat said his government is concerned that the universal jurisdiction law will lead to further trials that could cause diplomatic embarrassment. He cited one group of survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia which has already declared its intention to take the Dutch government of the time to court for its moral responsibility. Last year, the Dutch cabinet resigned after a report slamming the inaction of Dutch peacekeeping troops. Also embarrassing for the Belgian political establishment is the fact that one of the groups pushing charges against Sharon is led by Dyab Abu Jahjah, an Islamic populist who heads the Sabra and Shatila Committee and its mother organization, the Arab European League. The media interest surrounding the court case has given him added publicity at a time when the Belgian government is looking for ways to ban his organization. Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim contributed to this report. jpost.com

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (3853)	2/12/2003 8:31:45 PM
From: lorne	Respond to of 15987

UAE Sends Ships, Forces to Defend Kuwait By ANWAR FARUQI Associated Press Writer February 12, 2003, 7:15 AM EST DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The United Arab Emirates said Wednesday it will send tanks, attack helicopters, warships and about 4,000 troops to Kuwait to help defend that country from an Iraqi attack if the United States goes to war against Saddam Hussein. A top military official speaking on condition of anonymity said the Emirates is sending a mechanized brigade backed by Apache attack helicopters, Leclerc tanks, BMP3 amphibious armored vehicles, a missile boat and a frigate in the coming days. The small island nation of Bahrain also said Wednesday it would send a frigate and an unspecified number of troops. Fellow Persian Gulf states have also agreed to dispatch a combined military force to Kuwait, preparing for the likelihood of war even as they hope for a diplomatic end to the U.S.-Iraq crisis. The decision to send the combined force, known as the Peninsula Shield, was made in Saudi Arabia Saturday at a meeting of ministers of the six Arab Gulf states. The forces will be under the command of the host country, Kuwait, the Emirates official said, speaking by telephone from Abu Dhabi, the nation's capital and largest of its seven emirates. Peninsula Shield, based in Hafr al-Baten, a northeastern Saudi base near the Iraqi border, has some 5,000 troops. It was unclear how many of those troops would be sent to Kuwait, or how many Emirates troops would be involved in that deployment. A Bahraini Information Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press in Manama that Bahraini forces were on their way to Kuwait. As part of its contribution, Bahrain was dispatching its only frigate, Sabha -- a gift from the U.S. Navy. It also was sending some troops, the official said. He would not elaborate. Other Gulf nations have not yet said publicly what they would contribute to Kuwait's defense. Peninsula Shield proved powerless in August 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait and remained in the country until a U.S.-led coalition expelled Saddam Hussein's army seven months later. The council's oil-rich members have small armed forces and rely heavily on the United States and other Western allies for their defense. With tens of thousands of U.S. troops already in Kuwait, the country could become a launch pad for any war on Iraq. newsday.com