Updated
Israel’s Prime Minister has hailed what he called efforts by friendly states to stop the International Criminal Court (ICC) opening an investigation into alleged war crimes against Palestinians.
Key points:
- The ICC chief prosecutor says there is enough evidence for an investigation of alleged Israeli war crimes
- Some countries appear set to argue the court does not have jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories
- The Israeli PM says “many friends around the world” are joining Israel’s opposition to an investigation
The court’s chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in December there was enough evidence for an investigation into thousands of killings, but she asked the court to rule on whether it had jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories.
Australia, Brazil, Hungary, Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic have asked the court over the past two weeks to let them file “amicus brief” opinions on the case, ICC records show.
Some said they would argue the court’s jurisdiction did not extend to the Palestinian territories.
Brazil said it would argue the Israeli-Palestinian crisis should be resolved through political dialogue, not a court ruling.
Mr Netanyahu told his Cabinet countries had responded to Israeli lobbying over the case.
“We are struggling against this [proceeding] and, at our side, I must say, are many friends around the world [which] joined the US in a steadfast stand alongside Israel,” he said.
The Palestinian territories were accepted as an ICC member in 2015 after signing the court’s founding Rome Statute, based on their United Nations “observer state” status.
Israel and the United States, neither of them ICC members, dispute the court’s jurisdiction in the absence of a sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza or East Jerusalem.
The Organisation for Islamic Cooperation, representing 57 Muslim states, asked to file a brief, arguing the Palestinians had sovereignty over the Palestinian territories.
The Palestinian Bar Association, the International Commission of Jurists and other legal and human rights organisation have also asked to filed briefs with the court to say it does have jurisdiction in this case.
US-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking stalled in 2014. A new US peace plan, unveiled by US President Donald Trump last month, envisaged Israel keeping East Jerusalem and swathes of West Bank land, and was rejected by the Palestinians.
Reuters
Topics:
palestinian-territory-occupied,
First posted