(18:50) Second genocide case launched against Arafat in Belgium
By The Associated Press
BRUSSELS, Belgium – A Luxembourg-based human rights group filed charges of genocide against Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat today – the second such case launched under Belgian law against the Palestinian leader in less than a month.
The World Committee for Justice and Peace filed hundreds of pages of documents and hours of videotape from Palestinian television in support of its claim that Arafat has incited Palestinians to kill Israelis.
Its lawsuit, filed with a Brussels court, alleged murder, incitement to genocide, and crimes against humanity against Arafat and 32 other leaders of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority.
It may take several months for the court to say if the case has any merit and will be considered.
The case listed 20 victims of terrorist attacks, most in Israel but also in Khartoum, Sudan. The victims included Americans, Canadians, and Britons.
Arafat has described Palestinian attacks as legitimate resistance against Israeli occupation, and has said he is doing his best to rein in terrorists, a claim the Israeli government hotly disputes.
The WCJP filed its lawsuit under Belgian laws introduced in 1993 and 1999 that let courts try allegations of crimes against humanity wherever they are committed.
On November 27, lawyers representing 33 Israelis and Belgians filed a case against Arafat accusing the Palestinian leader of initiating terrorist attacks.
Belgian courts are similarly considering complaints against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and a string of other past and present world leaders, including Cuban President Fidel Castro, former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
"Thirty years of international terrorism is on trial here," said WCJP spokesman Michael Freilich.
Freilich said the latest intifada against Israel was begun by Arafat "and is not a spontaneous action by Palestinians."
By The Associated Press
BRUSSELS, Belgium – A Luxembourg-based human rights group filed charges of genocide against Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat today – the second such case launched under Belgian law against the Palestinian leader in less than a month.
The World Committee for Justice and Peace filed hundreds of pages of documents and hours of videotape from Palestinian television in support of its claim that Arafat has incited Palestinians to kill Israelis.
Its lawsuit, filed with a Brussels court, alleged murder, incitement to genocide, and crimes against humanity against Arafat and 32 other leaders of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority.
It may take several months for the court to say if the case has any merit and will be considered.
The case listed 20 victims of terrorist attacks, most in Israel but also in Khartoum, Sudan. The victims included Americans, Canadians, and Britons.
Arafat has described Palestinian attacks as legitimate resistance against Israeli occupation, and has said he is doing his best to rein in terrorists, a claim the Israeli government hotly disputes.
The WCJP filed its lawsuit under Belgian laws introduced in 1993 and 1999 that let courts try allegations of crimes against humanity wherever they are committed.
On November 27, lawyers representing 33 Israelis and Belgians filed a case against Arafat accusing the Palestinian leader of initiating terrorist attacks.
Belgian courts are similarly considering complaints against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and a string of other past and present world leaders, including Cuban President Fidel Castro, former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
"Thirty years of international terrorism is on trial here," said WCJP spokesman Michael Freilich.
Freilich said the latest intifada against Israel was begun by Arafat "and is not a spontaneous action by Palestinians."
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