OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 27 July — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday finally took seriously war crimes charges in Belgium, where a magistrate has been asked to prepare a case against him over 1982 massacres in Lebanon.
Sharon has decided to hire a Belgian defense attorney in case the trial went forward on the advice of Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein, Israeli army radio reported.
The 73-year-old premier, who had so far shrugged off the possibility of being brought to book for his alleged role as defense minister during the massacres, later called the case a veiled attack against Israel.
The head of Sharon’s office, Uri Shani, was meeting yesterday with jurists and top officials to work out a strategy to handle the potential Belgian case, according to Israeli public television.
In Belgium, attorney Michael Verhaeghe, acting for a Palestinian woman who escaped the massacres at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps during Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, said his client had been interviewed by examining magistrate Patrick Collignon.
Sharon is potentially facing two lawsuits over the massacre of between 800 and 1,500 Palestinians at the refugee camps following Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, when he was defense minister.
The first suit, charging him with responsibility for the deaths, was lodged by an ad hoc group of Palestinian, Lebanese, Moroccan and Belgian nationals.
A second suit alleging crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes was filed by 23 survivors of the massacres as well as five eyewitnesses.
The slaughter was carried out by Christian militiamen at the camps, located in an area which at the time was controlled by the Israeli military.
Sharon was forced to resign as defense minister after an Israeli investigation in 1983 found him indirectly but “personally” responsible for the deaths.
Under a 1993 Belgian law, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide can be tried in Belgian courts, regardless of where they took place or the nationality or residence of either the victims or the accused.
The possible trial of Sharon has sparked fears that other Israeli officials could be prosecuted in Europe. Army radio said that Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz and air force commander Maj. Gen. Dan Halutz could be charged in connection with the Israeli clampdown on the Palestinian intifada since late September.
Avi Gal, director of the Foreign Ministry, told army radio that officials should avoid traveling to nations that could pose an “embarrassing” situation for those concerned but gave no further details.
An attorney who has represented Sharon in the past, Dov Weissglass, underlined what he called “the danger of the globalization of international law, which risks setting off a wave of trials.” He said Israel would never bow to the trend. “We cannot accept that an official acting in the name of the State of Israel be tried abroad,” Weissglass said.
