Lebanon weighing lawsuit against Israel from occupation

28/03/2001| IslamWeb

[Israel first entered south Lebanon in 1978, and then orchestrated a full invasion all the way to Beirut in 1982, before scaling back its occupation over a two-year period to a security zone in south Lebanon, which it evacuated only last year.]

CAIRO, (Islamweb & Agencies) - Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri indicated Tuesday that his country is mulling a lawsuit against Israel for the Jewish state's occupation of south Lebanon, which ended in May 2000 after 22 years.
"We ... are studying at the present moment the possibility of filing a suit against Israel to claim damages" Hariri told journalists here after meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
"We are examining at present this possibility in all aspects, of jurisdiction and others, to sound out the chances of winning a trial," he said.
Hariri stressed the importance of a careful decision on the matter. "To lose this trial would signify absolution for Israel and that is a very dangerous business," he said.
Israel first entered south Lebanon in 1978, and then orchestrated a full invasion all the way to Beirut in 1982, before scaling back its occupation over a two-year period to a security zone in south Lebanon, which it evacuated only last year.
As a legal precedent, Hariri pointed to the ongoing court hearings in Belgium to determine whether Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon can be tried there for his role as Israeli defence minister in the 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees in Beirut, during Israel's occupation.
A unique 1993 Belgian law makes it possible for Belgian courts to try cases of genocide and other crimes against humanity that took place in foreign countries.
Hariri added that "it was easy for Israel" to obtain compensation from European countries for the persecution of Jews during World War Two, but "on the other hand, it is difficult for Arabs to obtain damages from Israel."
Asked about the prospects for the 13-day-old Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire in ending nine months of bloodshed, Hariri spoke with caution. He warned that it was "impossible to have a security solution apart from a political solution."
"Lebanon's experience demonstrates this. We had nearly 1,200 ceasefires without resolving our problems," he said, recalling the country's own 1975-1990 civil war.
Hariri also met Tuesday with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa.
Following a meeting with Egyptian newspaper editors Tuesday, Hariri also accused Israel of applying the "law of the jungle" by seeking to "consolidate its occupation of Arab territories and simultaneously to ensure its security."
He also reiterated Lebanon's claims to the Shebaa Farms, captured by Israel from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War.
Insisting on Lebanon's right to "recover its territories by whatever means possible," he said it will be for the "Lebanese people to decide whether that is by force or by diplomatic means."
Hariri had arrived in Cairo Monday where he presided over a session of an Egyptian-Lebanese economic cooperation committee with his Egyptian counterpart Atef Ebeid.
He left for home later Tuesday.