The German government’s commissioner for human rights Christoph Straesser

Source: Arab News

BERLIN: Germany’s top human rights official has urged Israel to cooperate with the International Criminal Court probe into possible war crimes in the Palestinian territories.

After the investigation was announced last week, Israel’s government immediately said it would not work with The Hague-based court and called for its funding to be cut.

The government’s human rights commissioner, Christoph Straesser, said in an interview published Tuesday that Israel’s reaction was counter-productive.

Straesser said: “Israel has launched its own investigations and should in my view cooperate with the International Criminal Court.” He added that “as far as the effort to suspend funding for the court goes, I can only warn against adopting this proposal.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Arabs have gone on strike across the country following the death of a Bedouin man at a protest this week. Israeli police said shops closed in protest on Tuesday in Arab areas.

He said police were carrying out an arrest raid Saturday in the Arab city of Rahat when residents poured into the streets and threw rocks and fire bombs at officers.

One man died in hospital from gunshot wounds in the clashes. Another man died from a heart attack at his funeral.

Police are investigation who fired the fatal gun shots.
Fayez Abu Sairbana, the former mayor of Rahat, blamed Israel for the “racist” killing.
The Arab minority makes up about a fifth of Israel’s population. They have citizenship but complain of discrimination.

An Israeli soldier checks the machine gun of a tank as he holds a position along the Israeli border with Lebanon on Tuesday, two days after an Israeli air strike killed six Hezbollah members in the Syrian-controlled side of the Golan Heights. (AFP)

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