Arab League chief calls for special court to try Israel

AFP, CAIRO: Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi called Thursday for a special criminal court to be set up for Israel, at a meeting to condemn an announcement that it will never return the Golan. Delegates to the 22-member Arab bloc based in Cairo are expected to pass a resolution denouncing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge Sunday the occupied Golan Heights would remain Israeli “forever”. Israel occupied the Golan during the 1967 Middle East war with Syria, Egypt and Jordan, and annexed it in 1981, in a move never recognised by the international community. Israel was acting like “a country that is above the law and accountability”, Arabi told delegates at the start of the meeting. He demanded “a special criminal court for the Palestinian cause” to try Israel, like the ones set up for Serbian war crimes. Saudi Arabia’s ambassador in Cairo and delegate to the Arab League, Ahmed Qattan, accused Israel of trying to profit from the conflict in Syria.

 

Arab League chief calls for special court to try Israel

AFP, CAIRO: Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi called Thursday for a special criminal court to be set up for Israel, at a meeting to condemn an announcement that it will never return the Golan. Delegates to the 22-member Arab bloc based in Cairo are expected to pass a resolution denouncing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus pledge Sunday the occupied Golan Heights would remain Israeli forever. Israel occupied the Golan during the 1967 Middle East war with Syria, Egypt and Jordan, and annexed it in 1981, in a move never recognised by the international community. Israel was acting like a country that is above the law and accountability, Arabi told delegates at the start of the meeting. He demanded a special criminal court for the Palestinian cause to try Israel, like the ones set up for Serbian war crimes. Saudi Arabias ambassador in Cairo and delegate to the Arab League, Ahmed Qattan, accused Israel of trying to profit from the conflict in Syria.