Britain must not become a safe haven for war criminals"

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London, March 5, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) -CAABU welcomes the British government's announcement on 4 March that it would hold a consultation on changes to legislation on applying for an arrest warrant for war crimes cases. We will urge the government to reconsider its position rather than rushing to amend the law purely to protect Israeli leaders and soldiers from arrest.

There are very serious charges made by a UN Commission of Inquiry, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the leading human rights agencies that Israel has committed war crimes.

There are two key elements that must be considered.

Firstly, our primary responsibility is to the victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity, to ensure that these end immediately, and that their oppressors are held fully to account. The 1.5 million victims of Israel's policies in Gaza not only cannot travel, but as a matter of Israeli state policy are denied proper access to food, clean water, power, fuel and medicines, a collective punishment that constitutes a war crime.

It would be abhorrent if there was any attempt to prevent or limit the right of these victims to seek justice for what has been done to them. There is a legal and moral responsibility that the British government puts more effort into securing their freedom than protecting that of potential war criminals.
Secondly, Britain must not become a safe haven for war criminals whether from Israel or anywhere else by making it easier for them to avoid arrest, or allowing political interference to give them a get out of jail free card.

The right of a private individual to seek an arrest warrant under the Geneva Conventions Act has worked for decades and there is no reason to change this now.

Posted by Sameh A. Palestine at 3:08 PM

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