- Lieutenant-General Shaul Mofaz, named as Israeli Defence
Minister by the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, is under investigation by
British police for alleged war crimes in the occupied territories.
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- The appointment of General Mofaz, a former army chief
of staff, to such a key post has confirmed suspicions that Mr Sharon would
lurch further to the right after the Labour Party walked out of the coalition
government on Wednesday.
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- The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, described the
appointment as a further blow to hopes for peace and warned it would lead
to an Israeli military escalation.
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- But it remained unclear how long General Mofaz would
remain in his new post as Mr Sharon struggled to put together a coalition
with right-wing parties to keep his Government in power.
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- General Mofaz was in Britain this week on a speaking
tour but cut short his visit on Wednesday as the Israeli Government collapsed
and the director of public prosecutions in England asked police in London
to investigate war crimes allegations.
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- The investigation was ordered after lawyers representing
several Palestinian families presented the DPP with a dossier demanding
General Mofaz's arrest under the Geneva Convention. The dossier accuses
him of crimes resulting from Israel's "targeted assassinations"
policy and the destruction of Palestinian homes.
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- In a 17-page letter sent to the British Justice Minister,
a human rights lawyer, Imran Kahn, also accused General Mofaz of breaching
the convention banning the use of torture while he was head of the Israeli
Army.
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- He led the army at the height of this year's crackdown
in the occupied territories and was an enthusiastic advocate of the selective
killing of "terrorists" which has often led to civilian deaths.
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- He replaces Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, the Labour Party leader,
who led a walkout from the coalition government ostensibly over high levels
of funding for Jewish settlements.
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- Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has denounced Palestinian
suicide bombers as "war criminals" and said the Palestinian Authority
bore heavy responsibility for not stopping them.
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- A series of explosions tore through the home of a Palestinian
Hamas militant in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing three people apparently
preparing bombs, Hamas officials and hospital sources said.
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- The Guardian, New York Times, Agence France-Presse, agencies
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- http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/01/1036027036796.html
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