Prosecutor Rejects Palestinian Recognition of ICC
The International Criminal Court has rejected a Palestinian Authority bid to clear the way for the permanent war crimes tribunal to investigate an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that began in December 2008.
Prosecutors listened to lawyers supporting the Palestinian bid and Israel’s rejection of it before reaching Tuesday’s decision, but ruled that Palestinians could not sign up for the court’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, as only internationally recognized states can join the court.
Palestinians have been seeking international recognition as an independent state at the United Nations, with limited success. The long-awaited written ruling by Luis Moreno-Ocampo is thus also a setback to their aims.
The Palestinian Authority unilaterally recognized the court’s jurisdiction in January 2009, and ICC prosecutors have been mulling ever since whether to accept that recognition — the first step in a process that could have finished with Israel being investigated for possible war crimes.
In a statement, the prosecutor said it is up to “relevant bodies at the United Nations” or the group of nations that makes up the court to determine whether Palestinians can sign up to the Rome Statute.
The court can only launch investigations if asked by the U.N. Security Council or an involved state that has recognized the court. Israel has never recognized its jurisdiction.
“The bottom line is that the ICC has no jurisdiction. We knew that and we said as much since the beginning,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.
“If the (Palestinian Authority) has any grievance, the proper way to deal with it, is to talk to Israel and try to sort this out directly. Resorting to the ICC or to the UN or to any far away institution … that’s just a waste of time,” he said.