Israel fears arrests, delays officers' trip to UK

Israel has delayed a visit by senior military officers to Britain amid fears the group could be arrested there on war crimes charges, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said on Tuesday.

"These officers were invited by Great Britain, but they will stay in Israel as long as we do not have a 100 percent guarantee that they will not become objects of criminal lawsuits in that country," Ayalon told public radio.

In December, Tzipi Livni, the leader of Israel's main opposition party Kadima and foreign minister during the Gaza war a year ago, cancelled a visit to Britain after an arrest warrant was issued against her by a British court, sparking a diplomatic row.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has insisted that Livni is welcome and has voiced his determination to change the law that allows British courts to issue warrants for alleged war crimes suspects around the world.

The Hamas rulers of Gaza, considered a terror organization by Israel and the West, have said they were providing information to European lawyers investigating alleged war crimes by Israel during the Gaza war.

Ayalon said that he would discuss the matter on Tuesday with Britain's Attorney General, Patrician Janet Scotland of Asthal, who is currently in Israel on a private visit.

"This legislation is often misused," Ayalon said. "It initially targeted Nazi criminals, but terrorist organizations like Hamas are today using it to take democracies hostage.

"We have to put an end to this absurdity, which is harming the excellent bilateral relations between Israel and Britain," he said.

A U.N. fact-finding mission to Gaza last year said both Israel and Palestinian militant groups were guilty of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the 22-day war that ended on January 18, 2009 with mutual ceasefires.

The war, which Israel launched in late December 2008 in response to rocket fire from the Hamas-run territory, killed some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

These officers were invited by Great Britain, but they will stay in Israel as long as we do not have a 100 percent guarantee that they will not become objects of criminal lawsuits in that country

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon

Jewish festival

Meanwhile, Israeli pilgrims flocked Sunday to Egypt to celebrate a Jewish festival amid protests by residents and political activities and tight security by the government.

Visitors, all Jewish and mostly from Israel, storm the small village of Damatiuh, in the Delta governorate of Beheira, every year to perform a pilgrimage to the shrine of Yaakov Abu Hasira, a Moroccan rabbi believed to have died in Damatiuh in the late nineteenth century while on his way to Jerusalem.

Residents of Damatiuh and the entire Beheira governorate threatened to disrupt the festival if the Egyptian authorities insisedt on holding it.

In addition to their objection to the presence of Israelis on Egyptian territories while Palestinians are suffering in the occupied territories, villagers voiced their resentment of the rituals performed by the pilgrims which are in flagrant violation of their customs and traditions. Throughout the 15-day festival, pilgrims drink heavily and spend hours wailing in front of the shrine.

Several activists launched a campaign against the festival, which, they argue, violates the law since two rulings by the Supreme Administrative Court, one in 2001 and the other in 2004, cancelled the celebration altogether.