Following are excerpts from an interview with Hassan Ahmad Omar, an Egyptian expert on international law, which aired on TRT Arabic on June 2, 2010.
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Hassan Ahmad Omar: "Several international treaties – like the Montreal Convention regarding aviation – state that crimes against airplanes or airports constitute international terrorism. The crime of hijacking, whether on the soil of a certain country, on a ship or airplane carrying the flag of a certain country, is considered international terrorism, according to that convention. [...]
“The Palestinians can take over Israeli ships at sea and take the people on board hostage, and this would not be considered a crime of international terrorism. Rather, this would be legitimate defense, as part of their struggle for independence and freedom, according to the same convention. The convention distinguishes between the two cases, and says that this is a heroic operation, and that fighters against forces of occupation and colonialism are entitled to carry out such an operation. The occupation and colonialist forces, however, are not allowed to commit such a crime, and they would face international prosecution. [...]
“This is the Partition Plan. The Acre province is here in the north, and it is Palestinian, according to the plan. It is my claim that the next war between Hizbullah and Israel will lead to the liberation of this province and to the transfer of half a million Palestinian refugees from Lebanon to here, in accordance with Article 6 of Security Council Resolution 1559.
“As we have seen, Hizbullah is successful in forcing Israel to carry out international resolutions. Just as it forced Israel to carry out Resolution 425, it will force Israel to withdraw... This is the scenario that Israel fears – the return of the refugees in ships, 30,000 at a time, who would land in the Acre province in order to realize the Right of Return."
