Israel opposes setting up international criminal court
Israel, Politics, 7/22/1998

The British daily the London Times said that Israel strongly opposes the setting up of a court for international crimes.

The report said the Israli opposition comes out of fear that Israeli settlers and officials could be presented before the court under charges of committing war crimes as a result of establishing Jewish settlements in the occupied Arab territories. The London Times added that Israel and the US were two of seven nations who opposed at a Rome conference last week setting up a special international court to try war criminals who commit acts of torture and racial killing.

US State Department spokesman James Rubin said that while the settlement provision was of concern to the US, there were also other concerns, "including the inclusion of the crime of aggression, despite the drafters' failure to define that crime; the drafters' unwillingness to permit reservations to the treaty; the possibility that nuclear weapons may someday be included in such a way... it might make their use acceptable if you've signed the treaty, but criminalize it for non-state parties. So this is a flawed instrument all the way around, and it needs some repair work desperately."

The paper added that the definition behind setting up this court also covers persons who build Jewish settlements in occupied lands, or those who support the establishment of such settlements, a process which Israel has been deliberately working on in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

The paper indicated that the Israeli settlers, even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or any member of his government might be arrested and tried upon leaving Tel Aviv according to the laws and objectives of the international court.

Previous Stories:
  US Jewish organization exposes East Jerusalem settler funding   (7/22/1998)
  Arab League approves ratification of basic system for international criminal court   (7/21/1998)
  UN Security Council debates acting on Israeli Jerusalem plan   (7/1/1998)

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