ISRAEL - July 7 - Extremists Attack Belgian Consul's Home.

Right-wing radicals have vandalised the Jerusalem's house of the Belgian consul in retaliation for moves in Belgium to try PM Sharon for crimes against humanity. On July 5 they hurled rocks through two windows and scattered leaflets condemning the court case. (Under a law permitting crimes against humanity committed anywhere to be tried in Belgium, a judge there is investigating the claim that Sharon was responsible for the killing of hundreds of Palestinian refugees by Israel's Lebanese Christian allies in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Sharon, who was defence minister at the time, was found indirectly responsible for the massacre by an Israeli inquiry and forced to step down. Sharon's lawyer, Dov Weisglas, has dismissed the case as a political stunt, saying the court has yet to find the basis for an indictment. Sharon did not include Belgium, which currently holds the EU presidency, in a brief visit to Europe on July 5 to discuss a US-brokered Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire. Israeli officials said his schedule was too tight for a stop in Brussels. PA Attorney General Khaled Al Qidra said Belgium would be subjected to international and Israeli pressure not to indict Sharon, adding: "We have become accustomed to cases where pressures are brought to bear and double standards are adopted on behalf of Israel through years. Maybe tomorrow we will hear that Belgium is anti-Semitic". Qidra welcomed Belgium's "brave" decision to launch an investigation, saying an indictment of Sharon as a war criminal would be significant even though the court's jurisdiction does not extend beyond the country's boundaries. He adds: "An indictment of Sharon would represent a declaration of the world community that there is a war criminal called Ariel Sharon and that he remains at large as a fugitive from justice. The international community would then be responsible for reacting to that declaration and seeking its implementation". Qidra said the fact that Sharon became Israel's top official two decades after the massacre was a "horrible reward").