Palestinians Sign Up to Join UN International Criminal Court

The Palestinian Authority's President Mahmoud Abbas signed the papers to join the International Criminal Court a day after it was denied statehood by the UN’s Security Council. The provocative move could draw sanctions from Israel and the United States, as well as expose the Palestinian territories and Israel to an international investigation of war crimes.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed a document at a meeting in Ramallah requesting membership of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Abbas signed the document on Wednesday, a day after a UN Security Council (UNSC) failed to pass a resolution that had aimed to set a deadline for Israel to end its occupation of territories sought by the Palestinians. The president also signed a raft of about 20 other treaties, aligning Palestine with various international organisations. The decision sets the stage for filing a war crimes case against Israel for its actions in Gaza. Israel's President Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to take action following the announcement. The signed statute will now be passed to the UN's secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, who will consider the application to join the ICC. While not guaranteed, legal experts think the process is likely to result in Palestinian membership being approved.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday threatened "steps in response" to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's approach to the International Criminal Court and vowed to defend Israeli soldiers from any potential prosecution. In a statement messaged to reporters, Netanyahu said the court could also target the Palestinians, citing Abbas' unity deal with Hamas Islamists, which he called "an avowed terrorist organization which, like ISIS, carries out war crimes". "We will take steps in response and defend Israel's soldiers," Netanyahu said.

Palestinians join war crimes court, angering Israel, U.S.

December 31, 2014

Reuters - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed on to 20 international agreements on Wednesday, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a day after a bid for independence by 2017 failed at the United Nations Security Council.

The move, which angered Israel and the United States, paves the way for the court to take jurisdiction over crimes committed in Palestinian lands and investigate the conduct of Israeli and Palestinian leaders over more than a decade of bloody conflict.

"They attack us and our land every day, to whom are we to complain? The Security Council let us down -- where are we to go?" Abbas told a gathering of Palestinian leaders in remarks broadcast on official television.

The Palestinian U.N. observer mission initially announced it would deliver on Wednesday to the United Nations the signed documents to accede to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC. But the mission later said the delivery had been postponed and would likely take place on Friday.

According to the Rome Statute, the Palestinians would become a party to the court on the first day of the month that follows a 60-day waiting period after depositing signed and ratified documents of accession with the United Nations in New York.

In the months leading up to Tuesday's failed U.N. bid, Sweden recognized Palestinian statehood and the parliaments of France, Britain and Ireland passed non-binding motions urging their governments to do the same.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Abbas's action would expose the Palestinians to prosecution over support for what he called the terrorist Hamas Islamist group, and vowed to take steps to rebuff any potential moves against Israel.

Israel and Hamas fought a July-August war in which more than 2,100 Palestinians, 67 Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel were killed.

"We will take steps in response and defend Israel's soldiers," Netanyahu said in a statement.

The United States said the was of deep concern and unhelpful to peace efforts in the region.

"It is an escalatory step that will not achieve any of the outcomes most Palestinians have long hoped to see for their people," State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said in a statement. "Actions like this are not the answer."

Palestinians seek a state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem - lands Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War.

Momentum to recognize a Palestine has built up since Abbas succeeded in a bid for de facto recognition of Palestinian statehood at the U.N. General Assembly in 2012, which made Palestinians eligible to join the ICC.

U.S. OBJECTIONS

Palestinian officials said on Tuesday American opposition made inevitable the defeat of a Security Council resolution calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state by late 2017 after no more than a year of peace negotiations.

The United States and Australia voted against the bid, while eight countries voted yes and five abstained. The Palestinians were unable to achieve a hoped-for nine votes which would have forced the U.S. to exercise its veto as one of the council's five permanent members.

Peace talks mediated by the United States collapsed in April in a dispute over Israeli settlement-building and a prisoner release deal, as well as Abbas's decision to sign on to over a dozen previous international texts Israel saw as a unilateral move the contravened the negotiations.

"We've been playing Mr. Nice Guy with negotiations since 1991, meanwhile the possibility of a two-state solution erodes," Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian diplomat, told Reuters.

She added that there were no immediate plans to lodge a formal complaint at the ICC, but that Abbas's move is "a clear signal to Israel and the international community that Israel must cease and desist its war crimes, especially settlements."

Other agreements approved by Abbas included several articles on the court's jurisdiction, commitments against banned weapons and cluster munitions along with less controversial pledges on the political rights of women, navigation and the environment.

U.S. ‘strongly opposes’ Palestine ICC membership

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (C) meets with the Palestinian leadership to sign international agreements in the West Bank city of Ramallah, in this December 31, 2014. (Reuters)

December 31, 2014

Al Arabiya - The United States said on Wednesday it “strongly” opposed Palestine’s request to join the International Criminal Court, adding it would hinder peace talks with Israel, Agence France-Presse reported.

“We are deeply troubled by today’s Palestinian action regarding the ICC,” said Jeffrey Rathke, a State Department spokesman.

“Today’s action is entirely counterproductive and does nothing to further the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a sovereign and independent state.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas filed requests Wednesday for his government to join 20 international conventions, including the Rome Statute, which governs the ICC, each a step on the road to statehood.

Washington supports the Palestinians’ quest for a state, but sides with its ally Israel insisting that they not take unilateral steps in this direction before reaching a peace deal with their neighbor.

Rathke said the Palestinians’ ICC request “badly damages the atmosphere with the very people with whom they ultimately need to make peace.

“The United States continues to strongly oppose actions -- by both parties -- that undermine trust and create doubts about their commitment to a negotiated peace.

“Our position has not changed. Such actions only push the parties further apart.”

The move paves the way for the court to take jurisdiction over crimes committed in the Palestinian territories and investigate the conduct of Israeli and Palestinian leaders over more than a decade of bloody conflict.

It came a day after the U.N. Security Council rejected a draft resolution that sought a deadline for Israel to end its occupation of territories sought by the Palestinians.

Abbas had warned that if the resolution failed, he would resume a Palestinian campaign to join international organizations to heighten pressure on Israel.

“We want to complain. There’s aggression against us, against our land. The Security Council disappointed us,” Abbas said as he gathered a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank.

Israel says all disputes should be resolved through peace talks, and such actions are aimed at bypassing negotiations.

Responding to Abbas’s decision, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Palestinians have “more to fear” than his country from their newly signed request to join the International Criminal Court.

“The Palestinian Authority has more to fear, having formed a government with Hamas, a known terrorist organization and which like the Islamist State of Iraq and Syria commits war crimes,” Netanyahu said in a statement published by his office.

The Palestinian campaign scored a major victory in 2012 when Palestine was admitted to the U.N. General Assembly as a nonmember observer state. This upgraded status gave the Palestinians the authority to join dozens of international treaties and agencies.

Still, turning to the International Criminal Court marks a major policy shift by transforming Abbas’ relations with Israel from tense to openly hostile. Abbas has been threatening to join the court since 2012, but held off under American and Israeli pressure. The Palestinians can use the court to challenge the legality of Israeli settlement construction on occupied lands and to pursue war crimes charges connected to military activity.

Palestinian leaders hope ICC membership will pave the way for war crimes prosecutions against Israeli officials. Israel has warned that joining the court could also expose Palestinians to prosecution.

The Hague-based court prosecutes individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Why the Palestinians Joined the International Criminal Court

December 31, 2014

The Atlantic - The Palestinian Authority's President Mahmoud Abbas signed the papers to join the International Criminal Court a day after it was denied statehood by the UN’s Security Council. The provocative move could draw sanctions from Israel and the United States, as well as expose the Palestinian territories and Israel to an international investigation of war crimes.

On Tuesday, Jordan, acting on the Palestinian Authority's behalf, failed to secure enough votes to pass a motion in the UNSC that would have set a deadline to end Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. On Wednesday, Abbas ratified the Rome Statute—which governs the International Criminal Court—thereby opening Palestinian Authority territory to ICC investigations. The Hague-based court has jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

It was not immediately clear what the Palestinian Authority would do at the court, and a 60-day waiting period must elapse before it can file any cases. While the court has 122 members, major countries like the United States, China, and India are not participants. Neither is Israel, and there are limits to the body’s power, as The Washington Post reports.

In a sign of the court’s limitations, prosecutors were forced earlier this month to abandon a case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who had been charged with orchestrating a 2007 campaign of ethnic violence. Though Kenya is a member of the court, the government refused to cooperate with the prosecution and blocked investigators from gathering sufficient evidence to continue the case.

Moreover, ICC prosecutors have significant leeway on which investigations they decide to move forward, and an investigation of Israel would face strong political pressure from its allies. The Palestinian Authority's joining could lead to the prosecution of Israeli officials for war crimes and crimes related to Israel’s settlement activity. In 2009, the humanitarian group Human Rights Watch accused Israel of committing war crimes in a 2008-2009 conflict known as “Operation Cast Lead.” The charges included launching missile attacks that killed civilians, the killing of 11 civilians holding white flags, and the use of white phosphorus munitions in densely populated areas.

The Palestinian Authority sought redress at the ICC in 2009 for those tactics. The ICC prosecutor ruled that the Palestinian Authority did not have the right to make investigation requests because it was not a non-member observer state at the UN. The Palestinian  Authority later won that status. In September 2014, after the most recent conflict, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of committing war crimes by killing 45 Palestinians who were taking shelter in a “well-marked” UN school.

Israel is expected to take retaliatory action, possibly including cutting off tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority, revoking VIP traveling status for Palestinian officials, announcing new settlements, or taking legal action in other jurisdictions. Members of the U.S. Congress have previously promised to cut off U.S. aid if the Palestinian Authority moved to join international bodies like the ICC.

Tuesday's failed resolution for UN statehood would have set a one-year deadline for negotiations with Israel, established a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, and called for the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the West Bank by the end of 2017. The resolution needed nine votes from the 15 member body; it garnered eight, with the United States voting against, Britain abstaining, and France, China, and Russia among those voting in support. Some questioned why the resolution was pushed forward now—in January, a rotation will bring to the Security Council new countries, like Malaysia, which might have proved more likely to vote in favor. Abbas, who has been under strong domestic political pressure, may have pressed for a vote now to avoid forcing a U.S. veto—and the confrontation a veto would bring.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power explained the U.S.’s vote in a firm statement: "In short, the Obama administration believes unilateral action or moves to join international bodies are not productive and will not create a durable peace, and prefers a negotiated peace process between Israel and Palestine. Comprehensive peace talks, brokered by Secretary of State John Kerry, reportedly collapsed earlier this year in part because of Palestinian negotiators’ insistence on joining various UN treaties and conventions, although continued construction of Israeli settlements also played a role. Secretary Kerry had sought to delay the statehood push to avoid inflaming tensions in Israel ahead of the country’s March elections."

Speaking from his headquarters in the West Bank after signing the ICC papers, Abbas referenced the UN failure. “There is aggression practiced against our land and our country, and the Security Council has let us down — where shall we go?”

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