Palestine Aims to Join the International Criminal Court
The Palestinian Authority (PA) recently submitted a resolution to the United Nations Security Council calling for an end date to the Israeli occupation in Palestinian lands. However, the resolution did not receive the necessary amount of votes in the United Nations Security Council, nor did all five veto states either vote in favor or abstain (the United States voted against the resolution).
As a result, the Palestinian Authority have moved to join the International Criminal Court of the United Nations. Namely, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas signed the paperwork in Ramallah.
This is a very important move, as it will allow the Palestinians to bring charges against Israeli leaders and military for any crimes against humanity committed in the Palestinian territories.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has the ability to hear cases if certain conditions are met. Namely, it must be believed that war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide was committed. Next, there must exist some ties between the person(s) committing the crime and the ICC. This could be that the crimes were committed in a state that is a party to the ICC, the individual could be a national of a state a party to the ICC, and there must exist an unwillingness or inability for local courts to try the case (Hurd, 2014).
By preparing to be a part of the ICC, because it is believed that various war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed against Palestinians and in Palestinian territory, that it would be in the jurisdiction of the ICC to hear such cases.
As expected, the United States quickly spoke out against this action. According to reports, “U.S. State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez said the United States strongly opposed the move and warned it would be “counter-productive and do nothing to further the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a sovereign and independent state.”
“It will badly damage the atmosphere with the very people with whom they ultimately need to make peace,” Vasquez said in a statement” (Al Jazeera, 2014).
This statement is not surprising by the United States government, a strong ally to Israel, and one that continues to suggest that such legal actions (such as resolutions or joining the ICC) are hindering peace, yet, somehow, they do not view supplying Israel with weapons to continue their occupation as an issue.
And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also highly critical of the move, saying that “The one who needs to fear the International Criminal Court in The Hague is the Palestinian Authority, which has a unity government with Hamas, a terror organization like (the Islamic State group) which commits war crimes…” (Al Jazeera, 2014).
It is interesting that Netanyahu seems to be upset when there is a unity government, and yet, when a unity government doesn’t exist, some supporters of Israel continue to argue that this is why peace does not exist. Some have also argued that Netanyahu was driven to act in Gaza because of this unity government that puts pressure on Israeli actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Netanyahu’s point about Hamas committing war crimes is also important. In fact, I think that the Palestine joining the ICC is also important for this reason, that Hamas can also be held accountable for their crimes. We should not pick and choose which human rights violations we should investigate and others which to ignore. The great result of joining the ICC is that Hamas and the Israeli military can both be held accountable. Because, the point of the ICC is to offer justice to victims.
The ICC should not merely be a political act, but one in which the end result should be accountability for human rights violators, and justice for all those affected by war crimes or crimes against humanity.
The fact that some states (such as the U.S.) are opposed to the ICC (as they themselves are not a party to the Rome Statute) for political reasons in no way minimizes the importance of the court and of upholding human rights in Palestine, Israel, the broader Middle East, and the world.
References
Hurd, I. (2014). International Organizations: Politics, Law, Practice. Cambridge, England. Cambridge University Press.
