International Criminal Court rules that its “territorial jurisdiction” extends to Palestinian territories

The ruling could pave the way for a war crimes investigation. The International Criminal Court declared itself competent on Friday, February 5, over the events in the occupied Palestinian territories, which could pave the way for an investigation for war crimes.

The ICC explained in a statement having “Decided by a majority that the territorial jurisdiction of the Court for the situation in Palestine (which has been a member since 2015) extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967”.

Fatou Bensouda, prosecutor of this international tribunal created in 2002 to try the most terrible crimes ever committed on the planet, had asked the said Court for a legal opinion on this point, and this, after announcing, in December 2019, to want to open a full investigation of possible “War crimes” (without however naming their authors) in the territories occupied by Israel. The Hebrew state has remained outside the ICC.

The Court added that with its decision, it “Did not rule on a border dispute under international law or prejudge the question of any future borders” but had had the“Sole objective of defining its territorial jurisdiction”.

Mme Bensouda, who is due to step down next June, wants the ICC to follow up on a five-year preliminary investigation following the 2014 war in the Gaza Strip.

Contrasting reactions

Israel and the United States, which are not parties to the ICC statutes, had strongly condemned the latter when Mr.me Bensouda had made his request for a thorough investigation. Donald Trump’s government even took sanctions against the prosecutor in September, who, for her part, asked Joe Biden to lift them.

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“Today the court has once again proved that it [étai]t a political body and not a judicial institution ”, reacted Benyamin Netanyahu in a statement, believing that by its decision the ICC was harming the “Right of democracies to defend themselves against terrorism. “.

For their part, the United States said “Seriously concerned about the ICC’s attempts to exercise jurisdiction over the Israeli military”. “We have always taken the position that the jurisdiction of the Court should be reserved for countries which accept it or which are referred to it by the UN Security Council”, thus declared to the press the spokesman of the American Department of State, Ned Price.

Conversely, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called this decision “Victory for justice”. For him, it is a “Message to perpetrators”, who “Will not go unpunished”, he added. He also called on the ICC to “Accelerate” legal proceedings relating to the last war in Gaza, Palestinian prisoners and the development of Israeli settlements.

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The World with AFP

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