From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: "STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN!" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2001 15:59:35 -0500 To: "STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN!" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: FW: INDICT SHARON NOW! [STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Don't stop with Sharon...how about the entire Israeli apparatus? On 13 Jan 01, at 13:48, Boyle, Francis wrote: > STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK > > --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- > Dial 800-555-TELL. Instant updates - One free call. > Sports, stocks, driving directions...& much more! > > http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/tellme1 > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > Francis A. Boyle > Law Building > 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. > Champaign, IL 61820 USA > 217-333-7954(voice) > 217-244-1478(fax) > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Boyle, Francis > Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2001 12:53 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: INDICT SHARON NOW! > > > INDICT AND ARREST ARIEL SHARON NOW! > > JOIN US IN THIS WORLDWIDE CAMPAIGN TO DEMAND THAT SHARON BE BROUGHT TO > JUSTICE! > > * Circulate the petition and the background information (see below) to your > friends and colleagues, and to nongovernmental organizations, media, and > government officials in your home country. > > * Sign the petition (see below) by sending an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > We will add your name, or your organization's name, to the list of > signatories. If you are signing as an individual, please -- if you wish -- > provide your city/country of residence, profession, and organizational > affiliation so this information can be published along with your name. It is > our goal that this initiative reflect the views of an international > constituency, North and South, that remembers the gravity of Ariel Sharon's > actions and is committed to seeking international justice in his case. We > encourage Israeli citizens and nongovernmental organizations to sign the > petition, join this campaign, and raise inside Israel the issue of Ariel > Sharon's impunity. > > * Notify your local newspapers and other media about this campaign, and > submit letters to the editor and opinion pieces about Ariel Sharon and the > importance of ending his impunity for massacres of innocent civilians. > > * Once we have collected signatures, we will recommend other specific > activities in your home countries designed to raise the profile of this > campaign. We also will circulate to other signatories any suggestions for > activities that you send to us at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > TEXT OF THE PETITION: > > We, the undersigned, believe that Ariel Sharon should be indicted and > brought to justice. As an Israeli military officer and as minister of > defense, Ariel Sharon was a principal in the first degree to murder, war > crimes, grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and crimes against > humanity, causing the death and injury of thousands of Palestinian and > Lebanese civilians. > > As Israel's minister of defense and architect of that country's brutal > invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Ariel Sharon's actions and failure to act > facilitated the massacre of at least seven hundred to eight hundred - and by > some accounts as many as 3,000 -- Palestinian, Lebanese, and other civilians > in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Beirut in September 1982. > > Three decades earlier, as a young military officer, Ariel Sharon led an > Israeli elite commando force, Unit 101, which carried out brutal raids > against Palestinians. The massacre in the West Bank village of Qibya, on > October 14, 1953, was perhaps the most notorious. Sharon's unit blew up 45 > houses in the village, killing 69 civilians, two-thirds of them women and > children, according to Israeli historian Avi Shlaim in his recent book The > Iron Wall. > > Judicial authorities in the State of Israel have never shouldered their > legal responsibilities and thoroughly investigated and prosecuted Ariel > Sharon for these massacres and other crimes. In our view, the failure of the > Israeli legal system to act obligates the nations that are High Contracting > Parties of the Geneva Conventions to hold Ariel Sharon accountable, > irrespective of whether he is a private citizen of Israel, a cabinet > minister, or the head of government. > > Article 146 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian > Persons in Time of War states that each High Contracting Party "shall be > under the obligation to search for persons alleged to have committed, or to > have ordered to be committed" grave breaches of the Convention, "and shall > bring such persons, regardless of their nationality, before its own courts. > > It may also, if it prefers, and in accordance with the provisions of its own > legislation, hand such persons over for trial to another High Contracting > Party concerned, provided such High Contracting Party has made out a prima > facie case." > > Article 147 of the Convention states that the grave breaches noted in > Article 146 include willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including > biological experiments, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury > to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement > of a protected person, compelling a protected person to serve in the forces > of a hostile Power, or willfully depriving a protected person of the rights > of fair and regular trial prescribed in the present Convention, taking of > hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not > justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly. > > Recent developments in the emerging system of international justice -- > including the cases of Augusto Pinochet, Slobodan Milosevic, the > perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide, and others -- provide compelling > precedents for ending the impunity that Ariel Sharon has thus far enjoyed. > He should be indicted for the crimes for which he has been responsible as > the first step in a process of accountability that will bring justice to his > victims and their families. > > SIGNATORIES as of January 11, 2001 > (Organizations are listed for identification purposes only unless otherwise > indicated) > > Paul Aarts > Department of Political Science/International Relations > Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences > University of Amsterdam > The Netherlands > > > Gasser Abdel Razek > Member of the Board of Directors > Egyptian Organization for Human Rights > Cairo, Egypt > > > Hossam Bahgat > Cairo Times > Staff journalist > Cairo, Egypt > > > Francis A. Boyle > Professor of Law > University of Illinois College of Law, Champaign, Illinois, USA > Board of Directors, Amnesty International USA (1988-92) > > Abdeen Jabara > Attorney > New York, New York, USA > > > Walid Keirouz, Ph.D. > Beirut, Lebanon > > > Laurie King-Irani > Anthropologist/Writer > Annapolis, Maryland, USA > > > Isam al Khafaji, Iraqi writer > International School for Humanities > University of Amsterdam > The Netherlands > > > Rasha Mansour (Jordanian citizen) > Training Specialist > Institute of International Education/ Development > Training II Project > Cairo, Egypt. > > > Maria Montagna > Canada > > Roger Normand > Center for Economic and Social Rights > Brooklyn, New York, USA > > Mary Ramadan > Attorney > Bethesda, Maryland, USA > > Samar Said > Training Manager > Giza, Egypt > > Shifra Stern > Legal Secretary > Bronx, New York, USA > > BACKGROUND INFORMATION > > > The 1982 Sabra and Shatilla Massacre: > The slaughter in the two contiguous camps at Sabra and Shatilla took place > from 6:00 at night on September 16, 1982 until 8:00 in the morning on > September 18, 1982, in an area until the control of the Israel Defense > Forces (IDF). The perpetrators were members of the Phalange (Kata'eb, in > Arabic) militia, the Lebanese force that was armed by and closely allied > with Israel since the onset of Lebanon's civil war in 1975. The victims > during the 62-hour rampage included infants, children, women (including > pregnant women), and the elderly, some of whom were mutilated or > disemboweled before or after they were killed. To cite only one > post-massacre eyewitness account, that of U.S. journalist Thomas Friedman of > the New York Times: "Mostly I saw groups of young men in their twenties and > thirties who had been lined up against walls, tied by their hands and feet, > and then mowed down gangland-style with fusillades of machine-gun fire." > > > An official Israeli commission of inquiry -- chaired by Yitzhak Kahan, > president of Israel's Supreme Court -- investigated the massacre, and in > February 1983 publicly released its findings (without Appendix B, which > remains secret until now). The Kahan Commission found that Ariel Sharon, > among other Israelis, had responsibility for the massacre. The commission's > report stated in pertinent part: > > "It is our view that responsibility is to be imputed to the Minister of > Defence for having disregarded the danger of acts of vengeance and bloodshed > by the Phalangists against the population of the refugee camps, and having > failed to take this danger into account when he decided to have the > Phalangists enter the camps. In addition, responsibility is to be imputed to > the Minister of Defence for not ordering appropriate measures for preventing > or reducing the danger of massacre as a condition for the Phalangists' entry > into the camps. These blunders constitute the non-fulfillment of a duty with > which the Defence Minister was charged." > > The Commission also concluded: "[I]n his meeting with the Phalangist > commanders, the Defence Minister made no attempt to point out to them the > gravity of the danger that their men would commit acts of slaughter....Had > it become clear to the Defence Minister that no real supervision could be > exercised over the Phalangist force that entered the camps with the IDF's > assent, his duty would have been to prevent their entry. The usefulness of > the Phalangists' entry into the camps was wholly disproportionate to the > damage their entry could cause if it were uncontrolled." The Commission > further noted: "We shall remark here that it is ostensibly puzzling that the > Defence Minister did not in any way make the Prime Minister [Menachem Begin] > privy to the decision on having the Phalangists enter the camps." > > The 1953 Massacre in Qibya: > Israeli historian Avi Shlaim wrote this about the massacre: "Sharon's order > was to penetrate Qibya, blow up houses and inflict heavy casualties on its > inhabitants. His success in carrying out the order surpassed all > expectations. The full and macabre story of what happened at Qibya was > revealed only during the morning after the attack. The village had been > reduced to rubble: forty-five houses had been blown up, and sixty-nine > civilians, two thirds of them women and children, had been killed. Sharon > and his men claimed that they believed that all the inhabitants had run away > and that they had no idea that anyone was hiding inside the houses. The UN > observer who inspected the scene reached a different conclusion: "One story > was repeated time after time: the bullet splintered door, the body sprawled > across the threshold, indicating that the inhabitants had been forced by > heavy fire to stay inside until their homes were blown up over them. The > slaughter in Qibya was described contemporaneously in a letter to the > president of the United Nations Security Council dated 16 October 1953 > (S/3113) from the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Jordan > to the United States. > > On 14 October 1953 at 9:30 at night, he wrote, Israeli troops launched a > battalion-scale attack on the village of Qibya in the Hashemite Kingdom of > Jordan (at the time the West Bank was annexed to Jordan). According to the > diplomat's account, Israeli forces had entered the village and > systematically murdered all occupants of houses, using automatic weapons, > grenades and incendiaries. On 14 October, the bodies of 42 Arab civilians > had been recovered; several more bodies had been still under the wreckage. > Forty houses, the village school and a reservoir had been destroyed. > Quantities of unused explosives, bearing Israel army markings in Hebrew, had > been found in the village. At about 3 a.m., to cover their withdrawal, > Israeli support troops had begun shelling the neighbouring villages of > Budrus and Shuqba from positions in Israel. > > The U.S. Department of State issued a statement on 18 October 1953, > expressing its "deepest sympathy for the families of those who lost their > lives" in the Qibya attack as well as the conviction that those responsible > "should be brought to account and that effective measures should be taken to > prevent such incidents in the future." (Department of State Bulletin, Oct. > 26, 1953, p. 552) > > At the Security Council's meeting on 20 October 1953, it decided unanimously > to examine recent violations of the General Armistice Agreements and the > Qibya attack in particular. It was agreed that the council would invite and > hear a report by its representative, Major General Vagn Bennike, chief of > staff of the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization, in order to obtain > accurate information concerning the facts. > > Maj. Gen. Bennike reported to the Security Council on 27 October 1953. He > said that, following the receipt of a Jordan complaint that a raid on the > village of Qibya had been carried out by Israeli military forces during the > night of 14-15 October between 9:30 p.m. and 4:30 a.m., a United Nations > investigation team had departed from Jerusalem for Qibya in the early > morning of 15 October. On reaching the village, the Acting Chairman of the > Mixed Armistice Commission had found that between 30 and 40 buildings had > been completely demolished. By the time the Acting Chairman left Qibya, > 27bodies had been dug from the rubble. > > Witnesses had been uniform in describing their experience as a night of > horror, during which Israeli soldiers had moved about in their village > blowing up buildings, firing into doorways and windows with automaticweapons > and throwing hand grenades. A number of unexploded hand grenades, marked > with Hebrew letters indicating recent Israel manufacture, and three bags of > TNT had been found in and about the village. An emergency meeting of the > Mixed Armistice Commission had been held in the afternoon of 15 October and > a resolution condemning the regular Israel army for its attack on Qibya, as > a breach of article III, paragraph 2,62/ of the Israel-Jordan General > Armistice Agreement, had been adopted by a majority vote. The Chief of Staff > stated that he had discussed with the Acting Chairman of the Mixed Armistice > Commission the reasons why he had supported the resolution condemning the > Israel army for having carried out the attack, and that, after listening to > his explanations, he had asked him to state them in writing; the technical > arguments given by Commander Hutchison in his memorandum appeared to the > Chief of Staff to be convincing. > > > At the Security Council's meeting on 16 November 1953, the representative of > Jordan requested that the council condemn Israel for the Qibya massacre in > the strongest term, and ask Israel to prosecute and punish all Israel > officials, military or civilians, responsible for the killings. The > representative of Lebanon made a similar request. Security Council > Resolution 101, adopted on 24 November 1953 (with Lebanon and the USSR > abstaining) found the retaliatory action at Qibya by Israeli forces a > violation of the cease-fire provisions of Security Council Resolution 54 > (1948) and inconsistent with the parties' obligations under the General > Armistice Agreement between Israel and Jordan and the Charter of the U.N., > and expressed "the strongest censure of that action." The resolution also > called on the governments of Israel and Jordan to prevent all acts of > violence on either side of the demarcation line, but did not call on Israel > to hold accountable and bring to justice those who carried out the massacre. > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > FreePalestine (397 members) is an independent Palestinian Voice in the > Global Wilderness. > FP affords Palestinians & friends an uncensored forum to share information & > views. > FP is not the forum to disparage any particular or promote religion. > T H E W O R D I S S T R O N G E R T H A N T H E S W O R D > [EMAIL PROTECTED] posts members' messages on FP > [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribes you to FP > [EMAIL PROTECTED] unsubscribes you from FP > [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribes you to FP's attachment ONLY > list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] connects you to FP's Questions & Comments Dept. > http://www.egroups.com/messages/FreePalestine: FP's archives > http://www.egroups.com/group/FreePalestine: FP's web site > P L E A S E F O R W A R D T O T H O S E I N T E R E S T E D > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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