From: 22387IA@MSU
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast
Subject: Alex Odeh , again... (was Re: U.S. Aid)
Date: 9 Apr 92 18:33:29 GMT
Organization: Michigan State University

------------------------- Original Article -------------------------
Someone on the news group about 1.5 years ago said that the suspects
in the Odeh case are believed to be in the West Bank, and that for the
U.S. to request extradition would be tantamount to recognizing
Israel's sovereignty over the WB.  I must admit it sounds doubtful to
me, but that could be the reason.
                               David Skoll
------------------------------
   The suspect in the Alex Odeh, murder(?)  is leaving (as far as I know)
in a kibutz/moshav in the Gaza Strip area. The U.S. requested his/their
extradition, which Israel AGREED.  However, the U.S. government's request was
that he/they would not be arrested in the "territories", because this would
imply that the U.S recognizes Israel's authority there. So the person(s) never
leave the territories - including their army reserve duties - so they can never
be arrested.  This is an agreement all three parties (the suspect(s), Israel

and the US can live with)
 If the US was really interested, I am sure somebody would send a message to
the right place in Israel.  However, one should look at this issue within the
global context of the special US-Israel relationship.  Israel has done many
things the US didn't like but the US also did many things Israel didn't like.
  You can't judge this case ignoring the complexity of the relationship.
There is a counterexample to this story, the case of William Nakash. He is
a French Jew who was accused of murder, but "escaped" to Israel before he could
be arrested by the French authority.  After a while, Nakash was arrested and se
sent to jail in Israel.
  There was a lot of pressure from the French authorities to extradite him.
Nakash's familiy in Israel and France argued that since the murdered guy was an
Arab, and the incident involved a big fight between Arabs and Jews, Nakash's
life will be endagered in the French prison.
  However, after (I think) about 2 years, Nakash WAS EXTRADITED and he is still
in the French jail, eventhough there was strong evidence that his act of murder
was a "response" to continous violence from Arabs against Jews

Israel DOES prosecute criminals EVEN if they kill Arabs. Look at the cases of
Poper (killed several Arabs from Gaza) and Eli Ben-Shimol (fired a missile on
an Arab bus). They both serve life  sentences.

Israel did RELEASE 6000 terrorist in exchange for 6 soldiers (the infamous
Jibril deal)

You have to look at all these things, over several years, in the context of
international relations and pressures and interests.  No country has a perfect
working justuce system. I am sure there are many criminals in Western Europe
U.S. or Arab countries that are not prosecuted, or cannot be prosecuted. I
would just mention Nazi war criminals, Abu Abbas (Syria), Abu Nidal, the
Dir Yassin gang (Israel).  In the context of the current drive for peace in the
MidEast, we should try and reach a consensus on the global issues that are
crucial to the existence of nations (Jews and Arabs alike) and just accept
that in this world THERE ARE ISSUES ON WHICH DIFFERENT PEOPLE HAVE DIFFERENT
OPINIONS AS THERE ARE OFTEN CONFLICTING INTERESTS WHICH CANNOT BE ACCOMODATE
TO THE MUTUAL SATISFACTION OF THE SIDES INVOLVED.

             Itzik Artzi, Michigan State U.   College of Education
Xref: sparky talk.politics.mideast:10997 talk.politics.soviet:3469 soc.culture.greek:3376