Sharon
to bypass Brussels on visit to Europe
By Aluf Benn and Gideon Alon
Ha'aretz Correspondents
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will depart Thursday for his
first European tour as Israel's head of state, making stops
in Paris and Berlin, while conspicuously bypassing a third
destination, Brussels.
The visit to Belgium appeared on the prime minister's
original itinerary; and the logic underpinning a stopover in
Brussels was highlighted yesterday, with the Belgians taking
over the presidency of the Council of the European Union.
But, according to Israeli diplomatic sources, due to the
recent ruling of the Brussels public prosecutor's office,
which determined that local prosecution of Sharon on war
crimes charges was permissible, "the high-level
dialogue between the two countries will have to take place
outside of Belgian territory."
Nodding to diplomatic custom, the official explanation
furnished by Israeli officials for the Brussels bypass
refers to the tight timetable of Sharon's European trip.
Controversy about Sharon's involvement in the 1982 massacre
of Palestinians at the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in
Lebanon by Phalangists was fanned by the BBC's Panorama
program that aired on June 17.
Sharon's European trip puts the Belgian government in
something of a bind, the Israeli sources, contend. The
Belgian leadership is wary that impaired relations with
Israel would damage its status as EU Council president, at a
time when the EU is trying to play an active mediation role
in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. Moreover, Belgium's
Foreign Ministry is not thrilled by the fact that officials
in the country's judicial system have intervened in the
foreign policy arena.
On the other hand, the Israeli sources say, the Belgian
government cannot ignore the fact that public sensitivity
about war crimes prosecution is running high. "The main
problem is that the media, public opinion and the
intelligentsia in Belgium are very supportive of a process
that turns their country into a leader in the human rights
campaign," the sources explained.
At the end of last week, Irit Kahan, the head of the
international affairs department at the State Prosector's
Office, was sent to Belgium to compile evidence pertaining
to a possible indictment of Sharon for war crimes. The
Justice Ministry refused last night to divulge details about
Kahan's classified mission to Belgium.
In addition, Foreign Ministry officials are closely
monitoring anti-Sharon developments in Belgium's legal
system, but are trying not to intervene. The officials don't
believe that Belgium will issue an extradition arrest order
against Sharon, but they concede: "This is a very
embarrassing, ugly topic; and it's not going to disappear
soon."
In recent years, the legal adviser to the Foreign Ministry,
Alan Baker, has warned about the growing trend of "the
globalization of international humanitarian law,"
whereby personal responsibility is imposed on heads of state
and army commanders. Baker predicted that the trend could
have negative implications for Israel.
Two years ago, in fact, efforts were made in London to issue
an arrest extradition order against Foreign Minister Shimon
Peres for the Israel Defense Forces' shelling of the Kana
village in Lebanon in 1996 (when Peres served as prime
minister) that led to the death of some 100 civilians.
© copyright
2001 Ha'aretz. All Rights Reserved
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