Palestine Joins the International Criminal Court

PALESTINE - ISRAEL, 12 Jan 2015

Falastin News Palestine – TRANSCEND Media Service

8 Jan 2015 – The International Criminal Court (ICC) has accepted the Palestinian Authority’s request to join the Rome Statute, in a move thought to open the way for bringing Israeli war criminals to court.

The president of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, Senegal’s Justice Minister Sidiki Kaba, late on Wednesday [7 Jan 2015] “welcomed the deposit by the State of Palestine of the instruments of accession to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,” after being notified by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that he had officially received the Palestinians’ application.

An ICC statement said that “the deposit of the instruments of accession by the State of Palestine,” effected as of January 2, had brought the number of state parties to the Rome Statute to 123.

“Every ratification of the Rome Statute constitutes a welcome progress towards its universality,” Kaba added.

The statement noted that in “a related development, the government of Palestine accepted, by means of a declaration under article 12(3) of the Rome Statute, the ICC jurisdiction” on June 13.

The Palestinians formally delivered the UN papers ratifying the Rome Statute, the legal document that established the basis of The Hague-based court, on January 2, the last phase in its accession bid.

“The move is a formal procedure setting the stage for Palestine’s full membership in the ICC within a 60-day-time-frame,” Palestinian lawmaker Abdul Kareem Shbeir told the Anadolu News Agency.

Egyptian expert in international law, Ayman Salama, said the move will allow Palestinians to sue the Israeli occupation for war crimes perpetrated against Palestinians.

The decision grants The Hague-based ICC the authority to open cases from April 1 on crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territories, despite fierce opposition from the Israeli occupation and its eternal ally the United States.

The International Criminal Court was established in 1998 as a court of last resort to prosecute the most heinous offenses such as war crimes and crimes against humanity in cases where national courts fail.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signed the treaty on December 31, along with 16 international agreements, following the UN Security Council’s rejection of a draft resolution that called for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories by 2017.

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