|
Sharon
witness blown up in Beirut
Israel denies link to
murder of Lebanese warlord who promised to give evidence against PM at
Brussels war crimes trial
Brian
Whitaker, and Ian Black in Brussels
Friday January 25, 2002
The Guardian
A potential key
witness in the Belgian war crimes case against the Israeli prime minister,
Ariel Sharon, was blown up outside his house in Beirut yesterday, together
with three bodyguards.
Elie Hobeika, a
Lebanese warlord involved in the massacre of more than 1,000 Palestinians
in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in 1982, died only a few days after
saying he would give evidence in Belgium. Survivors of the massacre are
seeking to prosecute Mr Sharon for his alleged role.
Chibli Mallat, their
lawyer, said yesterday that Hobeika was a key witness. "We've
obviously lost a key character in the story of Sabra and Chatila."
Mr Sharon, who was
defence minister during the bloodbath, resigned after an Israeli inquiry
found that he bore "personal responsibility".
He is now fighting
attempts to try him in Belgium under a controversial law which gives its
courts the authority to prosecute foreigners for crimes against humanity,
wherever they were committed.
Earlier this week
Hobeika told Belgian politicians visiting Beirut that he was willing to
testify against Mr Sharon.
Senator Josy Dubie of
the environmentalist party Ecolo said Hobeika claimed to have been working
with Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad, at the time of the massacre.
Yesterday Mr Sharon's
office dismissed a claim that Israel had assassinated Hobeika as
"rubbish" and "a complete lie".
The foreign minister,
Shimon Peres, said: "It's totally unfounded. We have left Lebanese
territory. We don't want to play [a role] there any more."
Hobeika, 45, had many
enemies in Lebanon and outside. At different times he had supported Israel
and its sworn enemy Syria.
A previously unknown
anti-Syrian group claimed responsibility for the assassination, though a
Lebanese government minister, Marwan Hamadeh, openly accused Israel.
A leaflet in the name
of the "Lebanese for a Free and Independent Lebanon" which was
faxed to Reuters in Cyprus claimed responsibility for Hobeika's death,
saying that the "Syrian agent" had sold out Lebanon. It was not
possible to verify the claim.
Hobeika had just got
into his military-style Humvee vehicle when the blast happened in the
Hazmiyeh district of Beirut, security officials said.
Analysts said the
remote-controlled bomb was the work of professional assassins who wanted
him dead with limited civilian casualties.
A bystander was
reportedly killed, and a further five hurt.
Hobeika, who had held
various government posts - including minister for those disabled or made
homeless in Lebanon's 15-year civil war - is unlikely to be missed.
It would be impossible
to count his enemies, said Hazem Saghiyeh, a columnist for the pan-Arab
newspaper al-Hayat. "This guy was born to be killed like that ... He
was an adventurer who had no principles.
"He started as
Phalangist, then turned against them. He was with the Israelis and
committed the Sabra-Chatila massacre. Then with the Syrians. It's much
easier to speculate that he would die this way than to find who is behind
it."
Khairallah Khairallah, a
Lebanese political analyst in London, said: "He became a burden to all
the parties and nobody wanted him alive.
"His killing
benefits Israel. It also benefits the Lebanese parties which want to say
that ... Sabra and Chatila were 100% Israeli, while in fact they were also
Lebanese."
|
