Palestinians join ICC in politically charged move

The Palestinians joined the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Wednesday, in a politically charged move that will open both Israeli and Palestinian officials to possible future war crimes prosecutions.

Riad Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, led a delegation to a ceremony at the headquarters of the ICC, which is responsible for trying people accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The Palestinians are describing ICC membership as a milestone in their drive for international recognition and campaign to make Israel answerable for alleged crimes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which it has occupied since 1967, and the Gaza Strip, from which it withdrew in 2005, but where it keeps a land, sea and air blockade. Palestine was recognised as a non-observer member state of the UN in 2012 and is recognised bilaterally by more than 100 countries.

The Palestinians are hoping that the ICC will investigate Israel's settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and its military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in July and August 2014, which killed about 2,200 Palestinians, many of whom were civilians.

"This means that the impunity Israel has had for 67 years is over, and it will face accountability in front of international law," said Mustafa Barghouti, leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, a political movement. "It's a declaration that the Palestinian state is subject to the rules of international law, and Israel is subject as well, as the occupying force of the Palestinian land."

Article 7 of the Rome Statute, the ICC's founding treaty, provides for prosecution of the crime of apartheid, which the Palestinians believe applies to the Israeli occupation. Article 8 prohibits the transfer of a country's civilian population into occupied territory, which they say is applicable to Israel's expansion of Jewish settlements where more than half a million Israelis live.

Palestinian officials have also hinted they may seek to have Israel prosecuted for its destruction of family homes of people accused of terrorism offences, a form of collective punishment Israel has used in the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the past year.

On January 1, a day before applying to join the ICC, the court accepted its jurisdiction stretching back to June 13 2014, a day after the kidnapping by Palestinians of three Jewish teenagers in the West Bank that set off a chain of events leading to last summer's Gaza war.

Palestinian officials have hinted that they might seek prosecution of some of Israel's most senior civilian or military leaders. "We want the ones responsible for the most serious crimes," a foreign ministry official told foreign journalists at a briefing earlier this week in Ramallah. "That gives you an indication of how high we want to go."

The ICC, which since its founding in 2002 has indicted individuals only in Africa, faces pressure from member states to widen its geographical remit and raise its profile. A prosecution involving the Palestinian territories would almost certainly do so.

However, ICC membership is a risky move for the Palestinians when their finances are threadbare and their internal politics are in disarray because of a stalled reconciliation process between the West Bank's ruling Fatah movement and Gaza-based Hamas

Their decision to join the ICC was criticised by the US, which is not a member, and brought an angry response from the Israelis, who in January froze tax and customs funds it collects for them in retaliation for the move, releasing some of the funds only last week.

Members of Hamas and other militant organisations responsible for civilian deaths could also potentially be indicted by the court. A group of US citizens said this week that they planned to file a complaint with the Department of Justice against Hamas for firing missiles at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport during the Gaza war last summer.

The tabular content relating to this article is not available to view. Apologies in advance for the inconvenience caused.

Some $400m of US financial assistance to the Palestinians could be cut off under a US law that allows aid to be terminated if the Palestinians initiate or "actively support" an ICC investigation. However, the law allows the US secretary of state to waive the restriction for national security reasons if he decides that continuing aid "would assist further in Middle East peace".

The Palestinians have not yet filed any complaints with the court, which began its own preliminary investigation of potential crimes on January 16, after they applied for ICC membership and lodged a declaration accepting the court's jurisdiction.

Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians' chief negotiator, told Israel Radio on Wednesday that the Palestinians were still preparing complaints related to the settlements and Israel's last military operation in Gaza.

© The Financial Times Limited 2015. All rights reserved.
FT and Financial Times are trademarks of the Financial Times Ltd.
Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
Euro2day.gr is solely responsible for providing this translation and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation