|
World Court Refuses to Disqualify Judge
The World Court rejected an Israeli request to disqualify an Egyptian judge from the tribunal, which will rule on the legality of the security barrier Israel is building in Palestinian territories, the court said Tuesday.Well, at least it canât get any less fair. Israel wanted Judge Nabil Elaraby to step down, citing his earlier job as legal adviser to the Egyptian government and what it described as a prejudicial newspaper interview in 2001. "Other than the âKill the Jooos!!! Kill the Jooos!!! KILL THE JOOOS!!!â part of the interview, whatâs yer problem?" By a vote of 13-1, the court ruled on Friday that Elaraby would remain on the bench. Only the court is empowered to excuse one of its judges. The Hague-based panel has 15 judges; Elaraby didnât vote. And didnât need to. As a government legal adviser, Elaraby sat across from the Israelis at the negotiating table on several occasions, dating back to the successful Camp David agreements in 1978 that led to the Egypt-Israel peace treaty. He was elected to the court in October 2001 for a nine-year term. The court ruled Elarabyâs previous activities "were performed in his capacity of a diplomatic representative of his country, most of them many years before" the current case arose. Old memories die It said Elaraby had said nothing about the barrier in the newspaper interview, and "could not be regarded as having previously taken part in the case in any capacity." No details about the interview were immediately available. No, no! Certainly not! Israel raised no objection to the Jordanian judge on the panel, Awn Shawkat al-Khasawneh, even though Jordan was expected to take the lead in arguing against the security barrier. U.S. judge Thomas Buergenthal dissented, arguing that the opinions Elaraby expressed in the interview create "the appearance of bias incompatible with the fair administration of justice" in the barrier case. Elaraby gave the interview three months before joining the world court. "He had three whole months tâ fergit what he said, yer honor! More than enough time. Izznât that so, Elaraby?" "Um, um, yep, thatâs so." "See, no problemo!" The ruling cited a 1971 precedent when South Africa objected to three judges sitting in a case concerning South Africaâs presence in Namibia. They also were allowed to remain. The precedent seems to be that if youâre perceived as an international pariah, youâll get screwed. In a separate statement, the court said 44 countries have submitted depositions in the case, from Japan to Brazil and the tiny Pacific island of Palau, which has only 20,000 people. European countries outnumbered Arab states, with the United States and Cuba also weighing in. Palestine was allowed to submit an argument even though it is not a recognized state. The court also accepted submissions from the 22-member Arab League and the 57-member Organization of Islamic Conference before Fridayâs deadline. Handle them like I used to grade papers as a teaching assistant: toss âem down the stairs, heaviest one gets an âAâ. At the United Nations, Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian U.N. observer, accused Israel of violating the rules of the court by commenting on submissions before the court makes them public. The Palestinian envoy also accused Isreal of "straightforward lies" and "spinning the facts." Specifically, he accused Israel of releasing the names and number of countries supporting their position and characterizing the position of groups of countries like the European Union. "All of this is illegal because it violates the rules of the court that prohibit talking about the content of the statements before they are made public by the court, and they also are not true," Al-Kidwa said. Not that any of this matters since the fix is in. Posted by: Steve White 2004-02-04 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=25565 |