President George W. Bush is “guilty of war crimes,” according to a “court” convened by the Young Palestinian Parliament, a group established by Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement.
The Palestinian youth plan to forward their findings to the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague, said a report in the Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
MEMRI said throughout the “hearings” a child wearing a George W. Bush mask stood behind bars, surrounded by youth in police uniforms who posed as guards.
The court heard witnesses, most of them Young Palestinian Parliament members, who tried to prove the charges against Bush. Among the charges were bombing of Afghan citizens, killing Iraqi children, leading the world toward more wars, attempting to take over the world’s natural resources, including oil, and unreservedly supporting the Sharon government that wages all-out war on the Palestinians.
The verdict read:
“It has been proven to the court that the accused, George Bush, president of the United States, is directly responsible for the murder of many children in Iraq, Palestine, and the Arab countries, because of the sanctions. [Similarly], he has deliberately violated the honor of many other countries, and decided to kill many of the world’s children.
“Based on the principles of international and human law, the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), and the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, and because of the charges against him, George Bush is considered a war criminal. [Therefore], the documents regarding him will be passed on to the war crimes court at The Hague. The world must stand alongside Iraq and the Iraqi children, and attempt to prevent the American president from implementing his plans.”
After the verdict was delivered, the dozens of children in the courtroom shouted, “Viva Justice! Viva Justice!”
Abd Al-Raouf Barnakh, leader of the YPP, said that the decision to try Bush came “after a number of legal suits were submitted to the YPP by Palestinian children regarding his intentions for the region.”
“The court decided to hold a quick trial for President Bush after the court received power of attorney from the children of Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt to try him in the name of all the Arab children,” he said.
Wearing typical Afghan attire, Walid Muhammad Siyam, 12, testified on behalf of the Afghan people: “The president and the American administration turned [Afghanistan] into an arena of war. The bombs from their planes were aimed at [harming] the lives of defenseless citizens. They destroyed the land, and are still occupying Afghanistan.”
Ahmad Al-Zamili, 11, representing the Iraqi people, charged that Iraqi children have suffered due to the decade-long U.S. sanctions. More than a million Iraqis were killed during this time, he said, most of them children. He also expressed his fear of the anticipated military action against his country.
Hadil Nasser Abu Al-Ruus, 10, demanded that Bush be punished harshly for his bias towards Israel, which has enabled it to kill the Palestinian people and prevent the children from playing freely, turning them into corpses destined for burial.
A child who testified as an “American citizen,” said the “American public is against the war. It has taken to the streets [to protest against the war], but the president is not listening to [them], and is acting towards a war that serves his economic interests.”
She said that Bush was directly responsible for what is happening to the Palestinian people and to the entire Middle East in his capacity as leader of the American armed forces.
Last week, members of the Indonesian parliament also said they believed Bush should be brought to The Hague because he is asking other countries to be willing to take action against Iraq without U.N. approval.
Effendy Choirie of the Nation’s Awakening Party and Aisyah Aminy of the United Development Party, said Thursday that President Bush should be considered a war criminal.
Aminy said steps taken by Bush could destroy world peace, which had been developed painstakingly by peace-loving nations.
“President Bush should be punished for planning to conduct aggression on other countries without the United Nations’ consent,” she said.
