Palestinian gov't slams int'l court for issuing arrest warrant against Bashir

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian government headed by premier Ismail Haneyya on Wednesday strongly denounced the international criminal court for issuing an arrest warrant against Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir, saying that this decision is politicized par excellence ignoring the real war criminals in the world. Spokesman for the government Taher Al-Nunu said in a press statement received by the PIC that the justice of the international community reflects the American will and ignores the real war criminals in Israel who committed atrocities against the Palestinian people. Nunu urged the leaders of the Islamic and Arab countries to stand by the Sudanese president, his government and people against the unjust attack that targets the Sudan, stressing his government's full solidarity with Bashir and its rejection of this court's arbitrary decision against him. In a press statement received by the PIC, the Hamas change and reform parliamentary bloc also deplored the international court for taking such a serious move against the Sudanese president, saying that this decision is a reflection of the injustice and the policy of double standards practiced by the US and its allies. The Hamas parliamentary bloc hailed the stands of the Sudanese president towards the Palestinian cause, adding that such decisions are despicable means to blackmail the free nations. It also dared the international criminal court to issue arrest warrants against Israeli leaders who committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip. For his part, Palestinian minister of justice Faraj Al-Ghoul condemned the international court's decision as politicized and irrelevant to international law. In an exclusive statement to the PIC, Ghoul underlined that the state of Sudan did not sign the Rome convention and therefore the international criminal court could not file a lawsuit against the Sudanese president. The minister added that this decision is an attempt in the context of controlling the African continent in general and Sudan in particular, and an attempt to destabilize the security in this state which refuses to be subjected to the American hegemony and dictates. The minister highlighted that the international criminal court is a tool controlled at will by the US, noting that its decision is heavily biased in favor of the rebels in the Darfur region. Sheikh Nafid Azzam, a senior Islamic Jihad leader, said that the court's decision lacks justice and reflects double standards. Azzam added that this court was supposed to issue arrest warrants against war criminals in Israel which just ended its brutal war on Gaza killing more than 1,500 civilians, most of them children and women, wounding 5,000 others and causing mass destruction all over Gaza.