Sharon may sleep quietly; he will never be jailed

As PRAVDA.Ru predicted, once again, the USA bailed out Israel

A hastily scheduled meeting of the UN Security Council on Mideast problems finished in New York. The meeting was called because of Israel’s airstrike against a residential area in Gaza, as a result of which a wanted Palestinian Hamas leader and civilians, including nine children, were killed.

The New York meeting was rather heated. Palestinian representative Nasser al-Kidwa called the strike a war crime and declared that it should be considered by the International Criminal Court. A Saudi representative characterized the airstrike as “a terrorist act that cannot be justified.”

The Israelis were not born yesterday: they accused Palestinian authorities of failing to prevent terrorist attacks against Israeli settlements and cities. They say that the inaction of Palestinian authorities leaves Israel no choice. Participants of the meeting were hardly convinced by Israeli's arguments; moreover, the arguments only added fuel to the fire.

“We will appeal to the International Criminal Court for the institution of criminal proceedings because of the crime against humanity committed by the occupation army last night,” Yasser Arafat’s adviser Nabil Abu-Rudeineh said yesterday.

It seems that the hopes of the Palestinians are unlikely to come true: although the UN Security Council criticized Israel, all the same, no resolution was passed. Why? As PRAVDA.Ru predicted, once again, the USA bailed out Israel.

US representative to the UN John Negroponte said that all resolutions previously passed by the UN Security Council were an adequate basis for the settlement of the Mideast problem; it was also added that the UN Security Council should focus more on Hamas, Islamic jihad, and other Palestinian groups that prevent the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

In a word, the US representative ordered Arabs to settle the problem connected with their groups first to avoid more deaths of civilians. It seems that the USA simply lays the blame on somebody else. If this logic is followed, Americans may quite easily accuse Afghan authorities of their inability to do away with al-Qaeda militants and the Taliban. This is a way for America to justify killing civilians and not militants.

Europe has no chance to bring Ariel Sharon into criminal account as well. On July 25, Norway Prosecutor’s Office threw out a claim brought by Labor Youth, a Norwegian party, against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, accusing him of crimes against humanity. Mignews reports that the accusations concern Israel’s military operations in Palestinian territories. The Norwegian Prosecutor’s Office threw out the the claim and explained that “the charges mentioned in the claim are not adequate evidence and can't be considered by the Norwegian court.” Dmitry Litvinovich PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/07/25/44682.html

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