The 114-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is to call for Israelis accused of ”reported war crimes” in occupied Palestinian territories to be brought to trial, officials told AFP.
Senior officials have reconciled differences over wording of the stand-alone statement to be issued at the end of a two-day summit of leaders from the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America on Tuesday, a delegate said on Saturday.
The finalised draft contains no reference to the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to the United Nations Palestinian representative Naser Alqedwa. But Alqedwa said the phrase ”application of legal remedies” left the door open to possible prosecutions by the court set to be inaugurated in The Hague next month.
The draft condemns the alleged systemic violations of human rights and other reported abuses in Palestinian territories, Alqedwa told AFP after the meeting in the Malaysian capital.
It also called for an immediate end to the alleged war crimes and urged NAM members to ”take the necessary measures to achieve this”.
”You could see that the text is still very strong and we think that it takes the position of the movement an important step forward,” he said.
The Arab bloc had earlier pushed for the adoption of a statement strongly condemning ”the war crimes and systematic human rights violations that have been committed by Israeli occupying forces against the Palestinian people.”
But the formulation was met with disagreement by some countries whose delegates said the 114-member NAM could not declare the Israeli actions war crimes because it is not a judicial body.
Officials said the senior officials reached a compromise by referring to ”reported” war crimes in the final draft to be presented to foreign ministers and leaders.
Alqedwa said the ”the crux of the language remains” because it condemns ”settler colonialism (and) systemic human rights violations” in the occupied territories.
Earlier this month, a Belgian appeals court upheld a far-reaching law against war crimes that paves the way for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to be prosecuted.
The court ruled that officials such as the Israeli leader can be prosecuted after they leave office.
Sharon is being sued in Belgium for alleged war crimes by 23 Palestinians who survived a massacre by an Israeli-allied Christian militia at two refugee camps in Beirut in 1982.
An Israeli tribunal later found Sharon, who was defence minister at the time, to be indirectly responsible for the carnage. He was forced to resign but never prosecuted. – Sapa-AFP