Israel ponders legal status of 'Jericho six'

By DAN IZENBERG
State Attorney Eran Shendar will convene a meeting in the next few days to decide how to deal with the six terrorists captured in Jericho on Tuesday, the Justice Ministry announced on Wednesday. "A meeting will be held in the coming days in the office of the state attorney with all the relevant officials in the Justice Ministry and the security forces regarding those arrested in Jericho, the continuation of their detention and the question of their being put on trial," Justice Ministry spokesman Ya'acov Galanti said. The Associated Press on Wednesday quoted the Palestinian Authority as saying that it would be a violation of international law for Israel to try the detainees, who were already tried by a PA court. However, Ruth Lapidot, an expert on international law who teaches at the Hebrew University and the School of Law at the College of Administration's campus in Rishon Lezion, said Israel was entitled to try the detainees because the crimes they allegedly committed were carried out in Israel. She said that one objection to trying them here might be that they had been kidnapped from the PA. But Lapidot added that this question had already been dealt with by an Israeli court over the question of Adolf Eichmann, who was kidnapped from Argentina and brought here for trial. The court at that time ruled that the important thing was not that Eichmann had been kidnapped, but that he was standing trial.