Israel, US upset as Palestine joins war crimes court
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PALESTINIAN President Mahmoud Abbas signed 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 said in remarks broadcast on television.
Under the ICC rules, Palestinian membership would allow the Hague-based court to exercise jurisdiction over war crimes committed by anyone on Palestinian territory, without a referral from the UN Security Council. Israel is not a party to the Rome statute but its citizens could be tried for actions taken on Palestinian land.
In the months leading up to Tuesday’s failed UN 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 Hamas Islamist group, and vowed to take steps to rebuff any potential moves against Israel. “We will take steps in response and defend Israel’s soldiers,” Netanyahu said.
The US said the move 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. “Actions like this are not the answer.”
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