A Belgian appeals court ruled Wednesday that Belgium couldn't investigate war crimes charges against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon related to a 1982 massacre in two Palestinian refugee camps. The three-judge panel said a case could not proceed against a person who is not in Belgium, despite a 1993 Belgian law granting Belgian courts "universal jurisdiction" over war crimes committed anywhere. The decision to throw out the case means Sharon can come to Belgium without fear of potential arrest, since a warrant can be issued only after an investigation, lawyers said.

Daniel Shek, an official with Israel's Foreign Ministry who attended the proceedings, welcomed the decision.

Lawyers for 23 Palestinian survivors who launched the case in Belgium last year indicated they would appeal to the Supreme Court.

They filed the lawsuit under a Belgian law that lets anyone file charges for war crimes no matter where they occurred.

But a ruling by the International Court of Justice, known as the World Court, in The Hague Netherlands, last February has thrown doubt on the law's scope.

The World Court upheld the diplomatic immunity of former Congolese foreign minister, Abdoulaye Yerodia Ndombasi, meaning Belgium could not try him for allegedly inciting the killing of hundreds of members of his country's Tutsi minority in 1998.

The case against Yerodia - similar to those launched against Sharon and several other world leaders, including Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat - was dropped in April.

Belgian prosecutor Pierre Morlet said last month the Belgian Justice Ministry believed a continuation of the case against Sharon was impossible as well.

Sharon was Israel's defense minister when a Lebanese Christian militia allied to Israel slaughtered hundreds of Palestinian civilians in the two camps near Beirut.

An Israeli inquiry found Sharon indirectly responsible, prompting his resignation as defense minister in 1983.

So far, the only people tried under the Belgian war crimes law are four Rwandans sentenced between 12 and 20 years last year for their role in the 1994 genocide of the country's Tutsi ethnic minority.

PHOTO CAPTIONS

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon participates in a meeting in the Knesset in Jerusalem, Tuesday, June 25, 2002. A Belgian appeals court ruled Wednesday that Belgium couldn't investigate war crimes charges against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon related to a 1982 massacre in two Palestinian refugee camps. Survivors of the two massacres said they would appeal to the Supreme Court(AP Photo/ZOOM 7