The Hague – Israel is expected to release a paper in the coming days giving its legal position regarding Operation Protective Edge, as part of an effort to preempt an investigation by the International Criminal Court and before the release of what is expected to be a highly critical report by the UN Human Rights Council.
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The paper is an intergovernmental project that was drawn up with representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office, the IDF, and the Justice, Foreign Affairs, and Defense ministries. According to one official, it will be an overview from a legal perspective of the summer’s events.
One government official said that, since the ICC is reticent to take up cases which are being investigated by a country’s judicial system that is recognized as competent, the paper will underline Israel’s judicial review of the events over the summer.
The Palestinian Authority, which already asked the court to investigate the Gaza operation, took another approach on Monday, indicating that it will also ask the court to look into Israel’s settlement construction.
Israel Radio quoted Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki as saying in an interview in the Arab press that the PA intends to formally joining the ICC on April 1 and immediately ask the court to investigate Israel’s settlement policy.
According to the report, the reason the Palestinians are adapting this approach is that, while the investigation they asked the court to carry out regarding the events in Gaza will open them up to counterclaims of being responsible for war crimes, they feel the settlement issue is a “one way street.”
One Foreign Ministry official did not appear overly concerned by the Palestinian move, saying that Israel is studying the issue, but that this is a very slow process that could take years to play out. It could be months before the court decides to open an investigation, and then – if it even does so – even much longer to carry it out and then pursue the matter in court. As a result, he said, there is no sense of great urgency yet in Jerusalem about this threat.
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
It will be interesting to see if this court will render a decision on this issue.By rendering a decision it presupposes a Palestinian state that dose not yet exist that the Israelis are illegally settling.
If the y”sh would work this hard for peaceful purposes instead of trying to knock down Israel, perhaps they could finally become productive members of society. But alas it’s not to be
Peace is simply not part of their culture. As our Torah describes them, they are savage beasts. This is their nature, they abhor life and glorify killing and death. Therefore all the peace talks are irrelevant because they’re simply not capable of such a phenomenon.