- Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik said in
an interview to Channel One to be broadcast Saturday that Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon will not be arrested upon arrival to Oslo on July 16, because
he has immunity as a national leader.
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- The left-wing Red Electoral Alliance party wants Sharon
to be arrested upon arrival, saying he has been "terrorist and war
criminal" since 1953.
-
- The group last week provided a long list of Sharon's
alleged war crimes, including the 1982 killings of hundreds of Palestinian
civilians at the
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- Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps south of Beirut by Israeli-backed
Lebanese Christian militia. Sharon also faces charges under Belgium's war
crime law.
-
- The group has said that if Sharon has immunity as a national
leader, he could be interrogated and prosecuted after he leaves office.
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- Bondevik also said in the interview that his government
is considering the possibility of sending troops or observers to the region
to monitor the permanent agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
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- Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas
have accepted the Norwegian invitation to visit Oslo on July 16, Bondevik
said in an interview to an Arabic daily, Israel Radio reported Friday.
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- Bondevik told Al-Sharq al-Awsat, an Arabic daily published
in London and Beirut, that his country wields influence over Israel and
the Palestinians, and can help push forward the peace process, Israel Radio
reported Friday.
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- "Sharon's historical decision to be the first Likud
prime minister to accept the establishment of a Palestinian state must
be remembered," Bondevik said.
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- Oslo was the site of months of secret talks that led
to the now-tattered 1993 Oslo agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
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- The invitation to Norway is only one sign that indicates
the Europeans are trying to improve ties with Sharon and his government
after nearly three years of cooling relations between Israel and Europe.
-
- Sharon will also be traveling to England, after more
than a year in which he stayed away from the continent. The invitations
are regarded by Israel as signals of a new openness to the prime minister.
-
- An Israeli government source has warned not to expect
a European bear hug, however. "Over-optimism would be a mistake,"
he said. "The Europeans have yet to declare a change in policy."
-
- Indeed, Israel's ambassador to Germany sharply criticized
the EU in an interview published Friday and spoke of a "trust deficit"
with Brussels.
-
- But Shimon Stein, Israel's ambassador to Germany, sharply
criticized the European Union's stance in the Middle East conflict. In
the interview in the Mainz daily Allgemeine Zeitung, Stein distinguished
between Israel's view of Germany and its view of the rest of the EU.
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- "Germany enjoys high esteem with us, something which
other European states and which the European Union as an institution cannot
claim," he said. Stein singled out EU criticism of Israel's actions
against the Palestinians as having left deep scars.
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- "There is an enormous trust deficit between Israel
and the EU," he said. "If the EU wants to play a role in the
Mideast peace process then it must dismantle this trust deficit. If this
does not happen, it will scarcely be possible for Israel to accept the
EU as a trustworthy partner."
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- http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/314761.html
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