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By
Barak Ravid
Spain's foreign minister on Saturday told his
Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni, that Israel should have been more
prompt in transferring legal material pertaining to the prosecution
of Israeli defense officials in connection with the assassination of
Hamas military leader Saleh Shahade in 2002.
"It is a shame that you didn't transfer the material on time,"
Miguel Mortainos told Livni in a phone call on Friday. He
nonetheless added that the material that the Israeli justice
ministry did hastily transfer on Friday will serve to reverse the
decision.
A Spanish judge on Thursday
ruled that Shehade's assassination by an F-16 air strike on his
home, which killed 15 people including Shahade's wife and nine
children and wounded more than 100, should be investigated as a war
crime.
Haaretz has learned that the Justice Ministry began processing the
case in July last year, but
Israel's reply to Spain was delayed for months.
Sources in the Justice Ministry say that formulating a response took
a long time, and that the decision to indict in Spain was an "ambush
move" that came as a result of Operation Cast Lead.
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