Spain closes Gaza bombing case against Israeli officials
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 30, 2009
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Spanish Judge Fernando Andreu cannot investigate the IAF bombing in Gaza on
July 22, 2002 that killed Hamas terrorist Sheikh Salah Shehadeh and 14
others, Spain's National Court ruled Tuesday.

The Penal Hall of the court decided, in a vote of 14 against 4, not to
proceed with the war crimes allegations against seven senior Israeli
officials, including former IDF chiefs of staff Dan Halutz and Moshe
Ya'alon, and former defense minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.

The complaint was lodged by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)
after Israel had refused to answer the questions from an investigative
commission in August 2008.

Last week, the Spanish Congress restricted such cases in which Spain could
use the principal of Universal Jurisdiction to cases in which the victims of
the crime include Spanish citizens, or when those charged are living in
Spain.

Shehadeh was killed when an IAF plane dropped a one-ton bomb on the
apartment building in Gaza City where he was spending the night. Palestinian
officials said 15 people were killed in the raid - Shehadeh, 49, his wife, a
daughter, and his right-hand man, Zaher Nasser, 35, as well as nine
children.

There has been no public investigation in Israel of the attack.