Paris, February 4, 2009

– The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the

Associaciَn pro Derechos Humanos de Espaٌa (APDHE) and the Palestinian Center for Human

Rights (PCHR) welcome the decision taken on January 29, 2009 by the Central Investigative

Judge N°4 of the Spanish National Court, which receives a complaint concerning crimes

committed in Gaza in 2002 and hope that the Israeli authorities will fully cooperate with this

investigation. The prosecutor did not appeal ; this decision thus marks the launch of a judicial

enquiry into war crimes committed in Gaza in 2002. This investigation targets seven Israeli

officials, including Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, former Defense Minister and currently Infrastructure

Minister, Dan Halutz, Commander of the Israeli Air Force when the crimes were committed,

Doron Almog, former Commander of the Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza, Giora Eiland, President

of the Israeli National Security Council, Michael Herzog, military secretary at the Ministry of

Defence, Moshe Yaalon, Commander-in-chief of the armed forces and Abraham Dichter, former

Director of the Shin Beth.

The facts are related to the events of July 22, 2002, when a one ton bomb aimed at a Hamas

official was dropped by an Israeli army F-16 in the Al-Daraj district of Gaza City, killing 14

Palestinian civilians as well as the Hamas leader. Some 150 Palestinians were also wounded.

In January 2006 the Israeli Supreme Court stated that the bombing was proportionate to the

military objective, which was to assassinate the targeted Hamas leader.

On June 24, 2008, six surviving victims of the bombing filed a complaint in Spain, with the

support of PCHR, on the basis of universal jurisdiction, in order for the crimes to be investigated

and the criminal personal responsibilities of the presumed authors of the crimes be established.

“This decision marks an important step in the struggle against impunity for the crimes committedby the Israeli army in the Gaza strip,” declared Souhayr Belhassen, President of the FIDH.

According to the Spanish legislation, the rules under which universal jurisdiction can be exercised

in Spain do not require persons indicted to be present in the country, but, according to the

principle of subsidiarity, this enquiry may take place as long as these crimes are not investigated

upon in Israël, in conformity with the rules of due process. It was therefore only after having

established that the Israeli authorities were not willing to investigate and bring to trial the persons

presumed responsible for the death of the Palestinian civilian victims that the Spanish judge

asserted his competence. In its decision the Central investigative judge N°4 of the Spanish

National Court also issued an international Letter Rogatory and requested that the Israeli and

Palestinian authorities cooperate with the enquiry.

The Spanish National Court has retained the status of war crime, but has not disregarded the

possibility of extending this to crimes against humanity, should the enquiry establish the nature of

such qualification.