OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 1 November — A former Israeli army chief who presided over the controversial invasion of Jenin earlier this year and is being investigated by Britain’s Scotland Yard on allegations of war crimes was named as Israel’s new defense minister yesterday, according to an aide to Ariel Sharon.
Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, who has flown back to Israel after Scotland Yard started investigating him during a fund-raising tour of Britain, was Chief of Staff during most of the current Palestinian intifada, until his retirement in July.
An aide to Sharon said the general had been offered the Defense Ministry and had accepted it. The appointment will not be confirmed until it is approved by the Knesset.
Sharon is trying to put together a new coalition government with the support of the far right after his left-wing Labour party partners left the government in a dispute over funding for settlements. During Gen. Mofaz’s time at its head, the Israeli Army came under heavy international criticism for its tactics against the Palestinians, including the routine assassination of senior activists in what the Israeli authorities euphemistically call “targeted killings”.
The army came in for special criticism for its invasion and reoccupation of Palestinian cities in the West Bank in April, especially Jenin, where army bulldozers leveled an entire neighborhood of more than 100 houses. There were numerous witness accounts of individual atrocities, both in Jenin and in another city, Nablus. In particular, many Palestinians gave convincing accounts of being used as human shields by Israeli soldiers.
There are already fears that a coalition with hard right parties, which are even less disposed to compromise with the Palestinians than Sharon, could derail what little is left of the peace process. Without the restraining influence of Labour, there are fears of harsh new repression against Palestinians by the government.
If the appointment of Gen. Mofaz as defense minister is confirmed, it will do little to dispel those fears. The Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported that Gen. Mofaz had been advised to return to Israel from a fund-raising tour in Britain by the Israeli Embassy after Scotland Yard opened an investigation into his role in alleged war crimes. Other reports in Israel said he had returned because he had been offered the job at the Defense Ministry.
The British investigation was opened after Imran Khan, a British lawyer, submitted a 17-page dossier to the Director of Public Prosecutions on behalf of the families of victims, accusing Gen. Mofaz of responsibility as commander for alleged war crimes by the Israeli Army.
Khan argues that Britain is empowered — and obliged — by the Geneva Conventions to investigate and prosecute any breach of the conventions, wherever it occurs.
Though Khan says the investigation can continue even though Mofaz has left Britain, it is not clear whether the case will go any further.
There appear to be months of political uncertainty ahead in Israel, at a time when the country is facing the imminent threat of being dragged in if the US attacks Iraq. Sharon has made it clear he does not want to call early elections, but is trying to stay in power with the backing of the far right. That will only give him a small majority in Parliament, and will provide Israel with a fractious government. Some far right leaders are far from well-disposed to Sharon.
Shimon Peres, one of the architects of the Oslo accords, who reluctantly resigned as foreign minister when his party leader, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, pulled Labour out of the government, was reported to have turned down an offer from Sharon to stay on at the Foreign Ministry. Keeping Peres on board would have boosted Sharon’s international standing. (The Independent)
