Belgian authorities are no happier than their Israeli counterparts over the trial of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Brussels on charges relating to the Sabra and Shatila massacres. Statements to this effect by sources at the Belgian Embassy in Israel are borne out by the trial\'s slow pace: The judge on the case is on vacation until early September, and great efforts to find a replacement were not made. In addition, legislation has been proposed in the Belgian legislature that would bar any incumbent government officials, such as Prime Minister Sharon, from being charged with war crimes.
In a letter this week to the Victims of Arab Terror organization, which has initiated a boycott against Belgium for holding the trial, Belgian Ambassador to Israel Wilfred Geens wrote that the action against Sharon \"is not at all initiated by the Belgian Government,\" and that the complainants are 23 Lebanese citizens filing the suit under a Belgian law enabling the prosecution of international humanitarian law violations. Ambassador Sheens further wrote that Israeli Knesset Member Avraham Hirschson (Likud) is in the process of launching a suit against Yasser Arafat under the same law, and complaints against Saddam Hussein are also in preparation.
Sharon\'s legal counsel is planning to argue that Belgium is not authorized to prosecute him, and that he was already found innocent of the same charges by Israel\'s Kahan Commission.