Posted on 07/18/2002 4:21:45 PM PDT by knighthawk
WASHINGTON, July 18 (IslamOnline) - A team of U.S. lawyers has filed a lawsuit against Israeli and U.S. officials, including President George W. Bush, on behalf of Palestinian-Americans who suffered atrocities at the hands of Israel and her U.S. supporters, from the 1982 Sabra and Shatilla massacres to war crimes in the most recent intifada, or uprising.
“The world has stood silent, and that is why we will not be silent,” said Stanley Cohen, the lead attorney for the team filing the lawsuit Tuesday, July 16, in U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, at a press conference Wednesday, July 17.
“These Palestinian-Americans seek nothing more of this court than that which they have been denied for more than five decades,” Cohen said, pausing to subdue emotion choking his voice.
Speaking to a packed room at the National Press Club, Cohen summarized the backgrounds of the central defendants named in the lawsuit - Israel’s current prime minister, Ariel Sharon, for his actions as Prime Minister and as defense minister in 1982, and other Israeli officials, as well as Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Cohen told reporters about a government-sponsored bill that was presented to the Israeli Knesset Tuesday that was to protect Israel against lawsuits from Palestinians and other civilians; the outspoken attorney then ripped up a piece of paper in his hands, saying, “Mr. Sharon, that’s Israel. This is the United States.”
Companies such as Boeing, McDonnell-Douglas Helicopter Systems and Textron are included in the charges - for manufacturing and selling “the weapons of death and destruction to Israel,” Cohen said - as are a number of Israeli settlements and supporters of those settlements, which are illegal under international law.
The charges being brought against the defendants include genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, racketeering - in terms of the money that goes to support Israeli actions - acts of murder, acts of torture, bodily harm, kidnapping, and “a whole slew of other charges,” Cohen said.
The lawyers are demanding of the U.S. president that he act in accordance with the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751), and immediately present a report to Congress on the use of U.S. arms exported to Israel in light of “overwhelming evidence,” that those arms are being used against innocent civilians.
Bush and Powell are not being sued for war crimes, Cohen said, adding that the team did consider it. The U.S. president is accused of failing “to fulfill his statutory responsibilities under the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act,” and Powell is accused of failing “to fulfill his statutory responsibilities of monitoring and reporting any misuse of arms provided to foreign states by the United States,” the complaint states.
Cohen told IslamOnline that this was the first lawsuit of its kind - bringing together so many issues - that demanded direct action on the Arms Export Control Act, although challenges have been raised before, without much success.
Although hundreds of requests from Palestinian victims were received by the team when they began their research about a year ago, along with Solidarity International - a Washington-based group formed after September 11 to help Muslim Americans - the team selected 21 plaintiffs, all of whom remain anonymous in the suit.
Eighteen of the plaintiffs are U.S. citizens; two are resident aliens, and one is a survivor of the massacre at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon.
Cohen told reporters that he expected the lawsuit to expand into a class-action suit; “We are talking about challenging…the discretion that Israel has gotten from the U.S.,” he said.
He acknowledged that there would likely be heavy media pressure against him and against the lawsuit, but was not ruffled by the prospect. “I’ve spent years being who I am,” he said. “I am a firm believer that the truth always comes out one way or another.”
He said he was optimistic about the lawsuit, despite the obstacles in its way. “The team will work hard… we won’t be bought,” he told IslamOnline.
Having spent time in Palestine and Israel, Cohen addressed a statement to those who are actually suffering on the ground, saying that his work was the easy part compared to what they had to endure.
“To my brothers and sisters in Palestine,” Cohen said, “You are not alone. We will fight, we will work, we will struggle…because, never again.”
“Sound familiar, Mr. Sharon? Never again.”
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"The Jewish lawyer Stanley Cohen defends Muslims, that are accused of terrorism."
Well, yes, he does that quite frequently and has said that he'd defend bin laden and anyone else "accused" in the 9/11 attacks. There is something seriously wrong with this retard.
Liberalism, or extreme leftist leanings, causes brain damage. That's the only explanation.
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