AEL Statement on the End of the Sharon case

Brussels- Whoever had illusions left can now be sure, separation of powers in Belgium is a relative thing and can be suspended to serve the political interest of the state and its friends. After more than a year of struggle, the Sharon case in Belgium has been killed today. The hopes of the plaintiffs to get any form of justice or recognition of their suffering and to see the guilty people receive their punishment faded away. Since the start of this complaint the 18th of June of last year, the Belgian establishment tried to find ways to destroy it to appease Israeli criticism and indignation. First they tried to change the law of 1993/1999 that gave Belgium universal jurisdiction, when that proved to be tricky and too direct to hide the political intentions behind such a move they changed their strategy.

Israel did not spare an effort to put Belgium under pressure and used its internal allies of the Zionist lobby to achieve its aim. All of a sudden the law of 1993/1999 was considered to be a burden on behalf of Belgium while it was cheered when it was used to condemn some Rwandan nuns. An archaic law from 1850 (article 12 of the penal law) has been considered to be superior to the Belgian law of 1993/1999 and stating that no person who is present outside of Belgium can be pursued by Belgian courts, which is a complete contradiction of the law of 1993 giving Belgium universal jurisdiction.

The blunt truth is clear; law is there to serve the interests of the strong against the week and of the rich against the poor, and the white against the colored.

Sharon and Israel are untouchable by law, not because they are innocent, actually everybody is convinced that they are guilty, but because they are connected and protected and they can abuse all western guilt complexes for the century of centuries to blackmail the world and justify their abhorrent continuous crimes against humanity. While Milosevic is facing trial, Sharon knows that no trial against him can be organized neither on the international nor on the local level, and thus he can continue his genocide policies against the Palestinians in inpunity. In the impossibility of an international specialized tribunal on Israeli crimes because such a tribunal would necessitate an international political consensus and American support, internal law like the universal jurisdiction law of Belgium was the only hope to get justice by the way of legal action. Now that even this way is sabotaged, Arabs and all justice loving people should take the right lessons and conclusions.

First lesson: The state of law in the west is as relative as in other parts of the world, it has its limitations and it is subdued to political interest and to the balance of power.

Second lesson: When it comes to Israel and its crimes the attitude of the west is based on nothing but hypocrisies and double standards.

Third lesson: We shouldn't waist our time trying to use dead-ends like legal action against a violent oppressor; our energy would be better used in defending and supporting the resistance by all means necessary against that oppressor.

Fourth lesson: Palestine will only be liberated by Arabs and Muslims, and it will only be liberated by military, economical and political struggle and not by negotiation. In order to liberate Palestine Israel has to be defeated, and only after an Israeli defeat negotiations can lead to a solution because only then the balance of power will be changed. Anyone suggesting otherwise is either misled or trying to mislead our people.

The Arab European League is aware that this case against Sharon which was initiated by the AEL and CODIP and some individuals was not a complete failure because of two reasons:

First: it did expose the real face of Israel and Sharon and it did bring awareness to segments of the public opinion in the west regarding the real nature of Israel .

Second: It allowed us to learn the above sited lessons and to see them applied in practice which left no doubt in our minds on the nature of the struggle and the means that should be used in it.

arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)