From The Times
January 6, 2010
Attorney General Baroness Scotland may block Israeli war crimes warrants
Baroness Scotland, who is on a visit to Jerusalem
Sheera Frankel in Jerusalem, Sean O'Neill and Sam Coates
The Attorney General could be given a veto over arrest warrants for foreign leaders in an attempt to placate Israeli ministers who fear war crimes prosecutions if they visit Britain.
Baroness Scotland of Asthal, who is in Jerusalem, discussed an amendment to British law that would give her office the power to review arrest warrants in private prosecutions against political figures, according to Foreign Ministry sources.
Israel warned that a failure to resolve the situation soon would have consequences for both countries.
Any further deterioration in diplomatic relations could damage Britain's counter-terrorism effort which has drawn heavily on Israeli experience and expertise, notably in dealing with suicide bombers.
Lady Scotland's trip coincided with the cancellation of a visit to Britain by an Israeli military delegation. The group abandoned its travel plans after the Israeli officers were told that their hosts, the British Army, could not guarantee they would not be arrested.
Last month Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, cancelled a trip to London after a court was persuaded by Palestinian activists to issue a warrant for her arrest in connection with the 2008 Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Previously, Defence Minister Ehud Barak has abandoned plans to visit the UK fearing arrest and in 2005 Doron Almog, a retired Israeli general, avoided arrest only by remaining on the plane that brought him to Heathrow.
David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, apologised to Ms Livni last month and promised an urgent review of the law to prevent a repeat of the situation.
Westminster sources said that no final decision has been taken on how to solve the problem but giving the Attorney General a new power to review private warrants was the preferred option.
It would give the Attorney General the ability to block the arrest of Israeli politicians but would not block action against Nazi war criminals, Afghan warlords or fugitive leaders of genocidal campaigns.
Officials have told ministers that a change to the present legal situation will require parliamentary approval. That advice has delayed the change because the Government fears a backlash from its own backbenchers if it tries to push through an amendment which is seen to favour Israel.
Lady Scotland's office said last night she had been invited to deliver a lecture in Israel before the row over Ms Livni's visit and combined her visit with a holiday.
The Israeli foreign ministry confirmed however that she met Danny Ayalon, Israel's deputy foreign minister, who made clear his anger and concern.
Lady Scotland refused to be drawn on the specifics of any amendment when she delivered her lecture last night at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
"I shall not tonight be talking about the rights and wrongs of any individual case," she told her audience.
"But you will know that the Foreign Secretary has stated clearly that the Government is looking urgently at ways in which the UK system might be changed to avoid this situation arising again and is determined that Israel's leaders should always be able to travel freely to the UK."
Answering questions later, the Attorney General said there would be no dilution of Britain's commitment to prosecute war criminals.
She added: "We need to make sure that the process that we use to effectively prosecute is just that, effective, and not used for political or other purposes."
Mr Ayalon told Lady Scotland that if the threat of arrest was not removed from visiting Israeli officials it would "make it difficult for the two countries to maintain a normal relationship".
He raised the issue of the cancelled military visit and pointed out that most Israeli citizens had served in the military and could be liable to arrest in Britain.
Mr Ayalon said in a radio interview: "These officers were invited by Great Britain, but they will stay in Israel as long as we do not have a 100 percent guarantee that they will not become objects of criminal lawsuits in that country.
"If the British law remains unchanged, this would undermine the good relations between the two countries who share common values and interests. The British must bear in mind that these visits serve both countries.
"Only actions can put an end to this absurd situation, which would have seemed a comedy of errors were it not so serious."
An official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry added that they were "concerned" that issue has not already been resolved in the month since Ms Livni had to cancel her trip to Britain.
The source said: "The issue with Tzipi was back in December, and we have yet to see real movement on this intolerable situation. We understand that it has been the holiday season, but this is an issue that effectively bans our Israeli leaders from visiting the UK. It has huge consequences."
But the Government is facing lobbying from Muslim groups and human rights organisations against any change to the legal position.
The Muslim Council of Britain has warned against "selective compliance with the enforcement of international law" which it claimed would "add a further dimension to the double standards that our government is seen to have in relation to the politics of the Middle East".
Inayat Bunglawala of Muslims4UK said: "We believe no attempt should be made [to change the law]. There's no reason why Israel should be singled out for special treatment. If they're accused of war crimes, we have a duty - and legislation - to prosecute."
The Hamas leadership of Gaza has said that it is assisting European lawyers and human rights groups in collecting data on alleged war crimes committed by Israel during the Gaza War.
A UN fact-finding mission led by Judge Richard Goldstone found that both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes during the Gaza War. Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed during the 23-day offensive waged in late December 2008.
Dominic Grieve, the shadow Justice Secretary, said the Opposition would work with the Government to resolve the situation.
"The Government has undertaken to address the issues surrounding arrest warrants for visiting foreign politicians or officials," Mr Grieve said.
"We will work with them to find the right balance between bringing genuine war criminals to justice, and preventing the criminal justice system from being manipulated for political ends."
There were many readers comments on this report. I reproduce here only two. ST
Graeme Warren wrote:
Israel's war crimes have been condemned Internationally and by the UN. Therefore my government has no mandate or right to tinker with regulations to help Israel, a country that obey's no laws, international or UN. Ms. Scotland should realize voters have long memories.
January 6, 2010 4:49 PM GMT on community.timesonli
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Alan Alcock wrote:
how can such a tiny tail like israel wave such a large dog like britain and an even bigger dog like america? the only people who think israel is doing nothing wrong (apart from the israelis of course) are the the few in power in the west who for some reason love israel while the majority of their populations know israel is committing atrocities agains the Palestinians, just read all the comments to this article.. why dont these leaders realise that the only thing israel gives them is grief and makes them targets of attack by terrorists. it's not even like israel is sat on lakes of oil - i could understand that argument. is it out of some guilt for the 2WW? but it makes scant difference as long as the british and american govs (which BTW and in case we have forgotten, *we* voted in) give carte blanche to them to do as they please. will ms scotland take heed to any of these opinions? hardly likely. and we wonder why britain and america *are* targets for terrorist attacks... we should all bow our heads down in utter shame for allowing our govs to let israel get away with it... and israel, if you had any shame you would feel shame
January 6, 2010 3:50 PM GMT
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