First modification:
The International Criminal Court published this Friday, February 5, a ruling in which it ratifies that it does have jurisdiction in the territories that Israel has occupied for more than 50 years and that Palestine claims as its own. While the Palestinian authorities believe this will open the doors for an investigation against the Israeli military, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and the United States criticize the decision.
The International Criminal Court made a decision on an issue that it had debated for more than two years. The Hague-based high court determined that it does have jurisdiction to investigate war crimes committed in the territories Israel has occupied in Palestine.
“The territorial jurisdiction of the Court in the situation in Palestine … extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” he said. the ruling of the ICC this Friday.
Pre-Trial Chamber I judges, by majority, conclude that the #ICC‘s territorial jurisdiction in the Situation in #Palestine, a State party to the ICC #RomeStatute, extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza & the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
– Int’l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) February 5, 2021
This was the answer to a question that arose in 2019, when the prosecutor Fatou Bensouda determined in your preliminary exam that there was a “reasonable basis” to investigate the situation in those places, considering that “war crimes have been or are being committed”.
The ICC Prosecutor’s Office pointed out as alleged perpetrators both the Israel Defense Forces and the Palestinian armed group Hamas. Regarding the former, the office considers that they intentionally and disproportionately attacked the civilian population and health personnel. He also maintains that the latter fired missiles indiscriminately at Israel during the 2014 war.
Bensouda said at the time that he did not need the authorization of one of the ICC chambers to open an investigation in those places, since Palestine acceded to the Rome Statute since 2015 and therefore recognized the jurisdiction of the court to investigate the crimes. The tension, however, is that the investigations would be carried out in the territories that Israel occupies and that country has not subscribed to the ICC.
It was because of this legal and political dispute that Bensouda decided to ask the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber to determine whether or not his office could investigate the crimes that have been committed in those places. And now most judges have said yes, rekindling long-standing political tensions.
Applause from Palestine and criticism from Israel
While in Palestine they welcome the decision, Israel and its ally the United States criticized the recognition of jurisdiction in the occupied territories. This despite the preliminary examination by the ICC Prosecutor’s Office investigating actors from both sides of the conflict.
However, on the one hand, it is believed that the ruling will finally open the doors to investigations of crimes that no one else has investigated. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was a “historic day for the principle of responsibility.” In the same vein, Nabil Shaath, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed the decision, saying that “the next step is to launch an official investigation into Israel’s crimes against our people.”
And while in Palestine they consider that the decision favors them, in Israel the fear is that the arrival of the ICC will turn into a legal persecution of the military actions of the Jewish State in the territories they occupy.
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“The court is ignoring real war crimes and instead is going after Israel, a country with a strong democratic regime, which sanctifies the rule of law and is not a member of the court,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said.
The Israeli leader added that this decision confirmed that the court was “a political body and not a legal institution.”
The United States backed its ally in the region. The spokesman for the US State Department, Ned Price, assured that the ICC’s decision arouses “serious concerns.” Price added that the US government was reviewing the ruling.
“We have always taken the position that the jurisdiction of the Court should be reserved for those who consent to it or for cases that are referred by the UN Security Council,” said Price.
This statement is deeply tied to the relationship the United States has had with the ICC and it has never been the best. That country has not ratified the treaty on which the Court’s actions are based and has taken all kinds of actions to intervene in the court’s investigation against the US military and members of the CIA for their alleged crimes in Afghanistan. Even under the Donald Trump Administration, the US sanctioned the ICC prosecutor and several officials working on the case.
As the United States does with that investigation, the central argument that Israel uses to reject the jurisdiction of the Court is to say that it has not acceded to the Rome Statute. Thus, the Israelis claim that the ICC cannot investigate their military forces, whether or not they are in the occupied territories and that Palestine claims as its own.
Does the ICC have jurisdiction in Palestine despite not being a state?
Besides the question of the jurisdiction of the Court in the absence of ratification by Israel, the other big question is whether the court can make that decision knowing that Palestine is not recognized as a country under international law.
Israel’s position is that the court cannot have jurisdiction over the territories because the Palestinians do not have statehood and because the borders of any future state must be decided in peace talks and not through a unilateral legal decision.
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However, the Court rejected that position and was clear that it does have jurisdiction because Palestine acceded to the Rome Statute, regardless of whether or not it is recognized as a state. He also recalled that it is not the task of the ICC to determine which territory can be considered as a nation.
“In today’s decision, the Pre-Trial Chamber recalled that the ICC does not have constitutional competence to determine matters of statehood that would bind the international community. By ruling on the territorial scope of its jurisdiction, the Chamber is not resolving a border dispute under international law or prejudging the question of future borders. The sole purpose of the Court’s ruling is to define the territorial jurisdiction of the Court ”, concluded the judicial entity.
Now that the ICC has recognized that it is competent to investigate crimes committed in the territories that Israel has occupied in Palestine, the Tribunal’s Prosecutor’s Office can continue with the long road of investigation that lies ahead.
The Bensouda office has only made the preliminary examination on the situation in Palestine, which it is only the first of the three procedures that have to be done before the judging stage can be reached. Furthermore, court proceedings are slow and it can take years for defendants to be sentenced.
With AP and Reuters
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source https://pledgetimes.com/the-icc-says-it-can-prosecute-crimes-committed-in-israeli-occupied-territories/
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