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UK denies blocking lawyers' investigating Israeli war crimes

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, April 28, IRNA -- The British government Tuesday denied that it was blocking attempts to build a war crimes case against Israel by refusing to support UK lawyers to enter Gaza.

"The idea that there is a determined effort not to enable witnesses to get into the Gaza Strip is inconsistent with the assistance we have provided to journalists and humanitarian workers," said Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell.

"We take all allegations of war crimes very seriously and have consistently said that they should all be properly investigated," Rammell insisted.

His denial comes after reports that a number of British lawyers, who have travelled to the region on fact-finding trips, could not get into Gaza because they cannot cross the border without letters from the British government authorising their visits.

Last week, the Guardian cited the example of Kate Maynard, who was told by Rammell that her efforts would be better spent contributing to the humanitarian work in Gaza and suggested that she gets in touch with the UN.

But in a letter to the daily, the Foreign Office Minister said that when Maynard approached his office it was in the immediate aftermath of Israel's latest massacre of more than 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza, when 'we were reviewing our policy on the issuing of these letters'.

"Ms Maynard did not come back to us, possibly because we understand she was able to enter Gaza in any case," he said.

Reports that the Foreign Office blocked British lawyers attempting to build a war crimes case against Israel from entering Gaza 'is completely at odds with the facts', he said.

"First, the UK does not control access to Gaza over the Rafah crossing -- Egypt does. And the UK does not control access to Gaza through the crossings on the Israeli border -- Israel does. We have continually urged Israel to open the crossings into Gaza, particularly for humanitarian aid," Rammell said.

"Second, we have, in exceptional cases, provided letters reiterating our travel advice to some individuals. They showed these letters to the Egyptian authorities and were subsequently allowed into Gaza," he said.

The denial also comes after Palestinian charity al-Haq brought a claim against the British government at the High Court in London, claiming it had breached its obligations under international law by failing to respond to Israel's slaughter in Gaza.

Rashad Yaqoob, a lawyer for the Human Rights Legal Aid Trust, which has also criticized the Foreign Office for not helping, suggested that the British government was under pressure because of the judicial review.

"I don't see them as being too comfortable in facilitating lawyers going across where we could be collecting evidence that could be used against them," Yaqoob said.