Palestinians set to kick off war crimes case against Israel

Papers alleging misdeeds in West Bank and Gaza to be handed to chief prosecutor of International Criminal Court

By Stuart Winer June 25, 2015, 9:57 am

via Palestinians set to kick off war crimes case against Israel | The Times of Israel.

Fatou Bensouda

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki (Issam Rimawi/Flash90)

alestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki was expected on Thursday to personally deliver to the International Criminal Court files describing alleged Israeli crimes in the West Bank and Gaza.

The move by the Palestinians marks a first step toward opening criminal proceedings against the Jewish state, and comes days after a UN panel found Israel could be guilty of war crimes during fighting in Gaza last summer.

Maliki was to present the files, which mainly contain background data and statistics, for review by ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

The files describe Israeli control in the West Bank, arrest policies, and daily life.

A team of ICC investigators is scheduled to arrive in Israel by the end of the month to examine Palestinian allegations of Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, though Israeli officials have described the visit as routine.

The files to be presented by Maliki are intended to aid Bensouda in deciding whether or not to upgrade the preliminary probe into a full investigation of criminal activity.

A decision to order a full investigation can only come from judges in the ICC’s pretrial department.

International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images/ via JTA)

Should the review lead to an investigation, the court may also look into crimes allegedly committed by the Palestinians as well.

The Palestinian Authority officially joined the International Criminal Court on April 1, after having signed the court’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, last December.

Though Israel is not a member of the court, cases could be brought before it against Israeli individuals suspected of war crimes committed in territory claimed by the Palestinians.

In January, Bensouda initiated an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Israel during last summer’s war between Israel and armed factions in Gaza.

On Monday, a report by the UN Human Rights Council found Israel and Palestinian groups could have committed war crimes, and urged The Hague to launch an investigation.

Israel has dubbed the Palestinians’ joining the court as “scandalous,” with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning that it turns the ICC “into part of the problem and not part of the solution.”

Meanwhile, the Israeli non-governmental organization Shurat Hadin-Israel Law Center has begun collecting incriminating information on Palestinian leaders as a deterrent measure at the ICC.

Earlier this week Shurat Hadin petitioned the ICC demanding that the court disqualify Bensouda from dealing with the matter because she has already made comments to the media about the Israeli-Palestinian situation, contravening the court’s own guidelines, the Hebrew-language Ynet website reported.

Elhanan Miller contributed to this report.

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