An English court has withdrawn a warrant for the arrest of a retired Israeli general on allegations of war crimes against Palestinians but it could still be reissued, a lawyer said. Doron Almog, who formerly commanded Israeli troops in Gaza, avoided arrest on the warrant by returning to Israel without leaving the plane that landed in London on September 11. "The police have returned the warrant to the court unexecuted," said Kate Maynard, a member of the legal team representing Palestinians whose houses were demolished by Israeli troops and whose relatives were killed in a bombing raid. "And the court has withdrawn the warrant, given that Almog is no longer in the jurisdiction," she said. "However, the fact that the warrant has been withdrawn does not mean that it cannot be reissued." The arrest warrant prompted Israel's Justice Ministry to set aside about $1 million for legal aid to army officers who could face war crimes charges in European courts. In addition to the special legal budget, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni established a team to study European laws that allow countries to charge people with war crimes even if they were not committed against their nationals, said Shai Ben-Maor, Livni's adviser.
| I think Israel should create a law that allows them to charge people and the descendants of peple who created and ran former colonial empires in Africa. Test case: any Belgian who had an ancestor working in the Congo. |