Salloukh wants special tribunal to try Israeli leaders for atrocities

Daily Star staff
The Daily Star
Aug. 01, 2006

BEIRUT: Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh called Tuesday for an immediate cease-fire and the creation of an international tribunal to try the Israeli officials responsible for crimes committed in Lebanon. Salloukh spoke from Damascus before heading to Kuala Lumpur for a preparatory meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference ahead of a meeting there on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Speaker Nabih Berri said an extraordinary meeting of Parliament's secretariat and the parliamentary committees' rapporteurs would be held at Ain al-Tineh Thursday to discuss security developments.

Berri met Tuesday with Justice Minister Charles Rizk, MP Ghassan Tueni and former Minister Jean Obeid. The speaker also received a telegram from his Egyptian counterpart, Mohammed Fathi Srour, who expressed his country's "strong condemnation" of Israel's strike in Qana on Sunday that killed at least 56 civilians. Srour also "rejected the US-Israeli cooperation in preventing the Security Council from assuming its role."

The Francophone Parliamentary Association also condemned the massacre in a letter to Berri.

In a statement on Tuesday, Amnesty International urged the international community to "urgently negotiate an immediate and full cease-fire, and to convene a meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to ensure that attacks such as Qana are independently and impartially investigated, and those suspected of war crimes brought to justice."

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora met Tuesday with a delegation from the Arab League which also brought donated aid supplies.

Siniora also received a telephone call from Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, who informed the premier of international efforts to end the violence in Lebanon.

Former Speaker Hussein Husseini met Tuesday with Egyptian Ambassador Hussein Darrar. Asked about calls on Cairo to expel the Israeli ambassador there, Darrar said: "If we look back into the history of the region, we see nations paid high prices for adopting decisions based on the people's feelings." Such a move would "not yield any positive results," he added.

In a speech delivered Tuesday on the occasion of Army Day, Lebanese Army commander General Michel Suleiman said ongoing cooperation between Hizbullah and the army "guarantees ... the country's unity."

In an interview with Voice of Lebanon Tuesday, Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade said French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy made clear during a visit to Beirut this week that any cease-fire should be based on a political compromise approved by Lebanon and the international community.

For his part, Justice Minister Charles Rizk stressed the need for an international investigation into the Qana massacre.

In an interview Tuesday with Al-Hurra, Rizk said: "Israel committed a hideous crime against children, women and elderly and [there should be] an international and independent committee to probe the crime."

In response to comments by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, Democratic Gathering MP Akram Chehayeb urged all Lebanese to unite in the face of "Baathist conspiracies and to confirm that Lebanon cannot be ruled by Damascus, Tehran or Tel Aviv."

Moallem said that any proposal to resolve the situation in Lebanon should be approved by all Lebanese. - The Daily Star