LONDON: The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians has launched a legal bid to initiate a private prosecution against British citizens who fought for Israel.
The human rights group plans to argue in court that the Britons joined a foreign army engaged in a conflict with Palestine, a state with which the UK was not at war.
An application for a summons against one named individual was submitted to a magistrates' court on Monday, The Guardian reported on Thursday. The newspaper described the attempt to mount a private prosecution of this kind as “highly unusual.”
The ICJP argues that individuals who fought for Israeli forces in Palestine violated Section 4 of the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1870, which prohibits a person from accepting or agreeing to military service for foreign nations at war with a state that is at peace with the UK.
Palestine, which the British government officially recognized as a state in September, has never engaged in any act of war against the UK. The region was a British colony for nearly 30 years until 1948.
