British MP Calls to Impose Sanctions on Israel for Killing Two Britons

13/04/2006

GAZA, April 13, 2006 (IPC + Agencies) - - A British Member of Parliament called on Wednesday to impose sanctions on Israel if it refused to turn in soldiers suspected of killing two British nationals in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Gerald Kaufman, a Jewish MP from the British Labor Party, told the BBC yesterday that one of the possibilities is for the British government to bring in those responsible for the deaths of cameraman James Miller and peace activist Tom Hurndall, in order to be prosecuted before a British court, or to have them tried before an international court of justice for committing war crimes.

“If Israelis did not approve to both suggestions, then we should consider economic sanctions against Israel,” Kaufman confirmed.

The British MP’s remarks came after a jury of an inquest decided that Hurndall, 22, who was shot dead by an Israeli sniper in April 2003, while trying to protect a Palestinian child from the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, was premeditatedly killed.

The British Coroner who heard both cases, Andrew Reid, announced he would write to the attorney general about how similar fatalities could be prevented, including examining possible prosecutions of Israeli commanders. In court, Dr. Reid said he would write to the attorney because the case raised wider issues of command in the Israeli military and because “two British citizens engaged in lawful activities” had been killed by Israeli soldiers.

The peace activist’s father, Anthony Hurndall, said, “The British government is obliged to pursue any source of a war crime, and willful killing is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions Act.”

After the verdict, a British official source told the UK-based Guardian newspaper that the British Attorney General would “not shy away” from acting, and that “upsetting the Israelis” would not stop the case being pursued.