Yesterday, a Chilean court rejected a lawsuit filed on Monday charging three Israeli Supreme Court justices with war crimes, including crimes against humanity, for approving the construction of the Israeli separation wall, declared illegal by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2004, Maan reports.
Maan reports that the lawsuit was rejected due to the fact that Israel is not a signatory of the Rome Statute, which makes Israel beyond the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), that the wall was an issue of “destruction of property,” and that the occupied West Bank was not in a “permanent state of conflict,” and therefore “isn’t subject to international humanitarian law.”
The lawsuit was filed by six Palestinian landowners in Beit Jala in Bais Lechem and alleged war crimes against former Chief Justice Asher Grunis, and Justices Neal Hendel and Uzi Vogelman.
The claimants reportedly own the land that is expected to be cut off from their village by the separation wall, while five of the plaintiffs are Chilean nationals.
The legal team, headed by Nicholas Paves, reportedly said that they would file an appeal with the Chilean Supreme Court. Residents in Beit Jala have been engaged in a decade-long legal battle against a 2006 Israeli military order to build the separation wall around Beit Jala and the Israeli community of Har Gilo.
{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}
