The Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, signed papers to join the International Criminal Court on Wednesday.
Palestine has now signed up to the Rome Statute, which places crimes committed in Palestinianan territory under the jurisdiction of the ICC.
Abbas signed 19 other international agreements, that could potentially open the way for Palestinians to pursue Israel for war crimes.
Warning that Israel would take “retaliatory steps,” the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said,
“It is the Palestinian Authority – which is a unity government with Hamas, an avowed terrorist organisation, that like Isis, perpetrates war crimes – that needs to be concerned about the international criminal court in the Hague.”
The US condemned the Palestinian decision, as “an escalatory step that will not achieve any of the outcomes most Palestinians have long hoped to see for their people.”
The Palestinian decision to ratify the Rome Statute comes just a day after the UN Security Council failed to pass a resolution on Palestinian statehood as the US and Australia voted against.
“They attack us and our land every day, to whom are we to complain? The security council let us down – where are we to go?” Palestinian President Abbas said on official television, before signing the documents.
Palestinian statehood resolution fails at UN Security Council by one vote (31 Dec 2014)
Palestine has now signed up to the Rome Statute, which places crimes committed in Palestinianan territory under the jurisdiction of the ICC.
Abbas signed 19 other international agreements, that could potentially open the way for Palestinians to pursue Israel for war crimes.
Warning that Israel would take “retaliatory steps,” the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said,
“It is the Palestinian Authority – which is a unity government with Hamas, an avowed terrorist organisation, that like Isis, perpetrates war crimes – that needs to be concerned about the international criminal court in the Hague.”
The US condemned the Palestinian decision, as “an escalatory step that will not achieve any of the outcomes most Palestinians have long hoped to see for their people.”
The Palestinian decision to ratify the Rome Statute comes just a day after the UN Security Council failed to pass a resolution on Palestinian statehood as the US and Australia voted against.
“They attack us and our land every day, to whom are we to complain? The security council let us down – where are we to go?” Palestinian President Abbas said on official television, before signing the documents.
Palestinian statehood resolution fails at UN Security Council by one vote (31 Dec 2014)