My quick thoughts on the big and welcome news that an ICC pre-trial chamber has affirmed that the court has jurisdiction in the West Bank and Gaza:
Asking for a ruling on jurisdiction was an optional exercise and the chief prosecutor could have opened an investigation a year ago. The situation in Palestine only deteriorated during that time.
It’s a major victory for the rule of law. A war crimes investigation in Palestine will be a test of the court’s credibility, as heretofore it has only prosecuted African nationals.
The US has always been varying degrees of hostile to the ICC but I’m glad Pompeo is no longer Secretary of State. Biden absolutely must lift Trump’s sanctions on the ICC chief prosecutor and members of her staff.
Every Democrat in Congress who signed the AIPAC-drafted letter supporting Pompeo’s efforts to undermine the ICC bears responsibility for delaying international justice for the Palestinian people.
Israel is going to go nuts and I worry for the safety of the Palestinian human rights defenders and victims cooperating with the court, who have already been subjected to death threats and intimidation campaigns.
I don’t mean to be an alarmist but Elie Hobeika (who should have stood trial himself) was assassinated by unknown parties after he agreed to testify against Ariel Sharon in a Belgian court regarding his involvement in the Sabra and Shatila massacres.
My enthusiasm is also tempered by the fact that more than 3,600 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the ICC initiated its first preliminary examination of the situation in Palestine. electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-…
Every day Israel perpetrates war crimes by transferring Palestinian detainees out of the West Bank, building new settlements, by creating a coercive environment to carry out the colonization of Palestinian land. Summarily executing Palestinians at checkpoints and road junctions.
The pace of court proceedings will not match the urgency of the situation on the ground. For that we need BDS campaigns and grassroots action.
But I will cautiously view today’s development as a signpost on the road to justice so long denied to the Palestinian people, in large part because of the actions of my settler state government.
I'll add that I haven't yet read the pre-trial chamber's ruling. This is just my analysis of the context in which it takes place.
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