Late last month, Audiencia Nacional, the National Court of Spain (the highest
Spanish judicial council), issued arrest warrants against the six - Binyamin
Ben-Eliezer, Doron Almog, Moshe Ya'alon, Dan Halutz, Giora Eiland and
Mike Herzog - accepting a petition from the Palestinian Center for Human
Rights that suggested they were guilty of war crimes in the Gaza Strip during
the summer of 2002.

At that time, Ben-Eliezer was serving as defense minister; Ya'alon was IDF
chief of General Staff; Eiland headed the National Security Council; Halutz
was commander of the IAF, Almog was OC Southern Command and Herzog
was a senior Defense Ministry official.

The plaintiffs claimed that Ben-Eliezer personally oversaw the killing of
Hamas commander Salah Shehadeh, a Palestinian terror chief who was
responsible for killing of dozens of Israelis, in which 14 civilians also died.
Israel subsequently apologized for the civilian deaths.

The Foreign Ministry has said only that the matter is being taken care of.
However, the Post has learned from a source in the Attorney-General's Office
that active negotiations between Madrid and Jerusalem were taking place to
overturn the warrants.

This is not the first time that PCHR has filed suit against high-ranking Israeli
military commanders, but if the court's decision is not reversed it will set a
disturbing precedent in international law, said Ofer Zalzberg, co-chairman of
YIFC (Young Israeli Forum for Cooperation), an organization that promotes
relations between Israel and the European Union.

Zalzberg recalled a 2005 incident in which Almog, travelling to London to
raise funds for handicapped children, stayed in his plane upon arrival in
London rather than risk arrest. Shortly thereafter, a British warrant for his
arrest was revoked.

"This time," Zalzberg said, "we are talking about several people and a very
significant and drastic step. It might also cause a shower of law suits from
various groups and individuals in Europe against various Israeli officials."
Almog told the Post that he believes the warrants issued against him, first by
the British and now by Spanish courts, are not directed at him personally, but
at Israel and its right to defend itself.

"Some elements with very clear motives and intentions use these lawsuits as a
weapon against Israel. The combat between Israel and terrorists continues on
different scenes, and the legal scene is just one of them," he said. "I don't think
the decision of the Spanish court indicates a crisis in Israel-EU relations, but it
seems that these elements exploit the law in these countries to act against the
State of Israel."

PCHR head Raji Sorani, welcoming the decision of the Spanish court to issue
the warrants, said, "We believe that these persons are criminals and that they
committed horrible crimes against humanity. A one-ton bomb was thrown at a
civilian neighborhood in Gaza and 15 people died."