ICC Rejects Palestine's Claim Against Israel Once Again

(United Nations HQ in New York)

The Minister of Foreign Affairs for the State of Palestine filed charges against the State of Israel with the International Criminal Courts (ICC) at the Hague in July 2014 to be heard by the Court's prosecutor. The prosecutor rejected Palestine's filing for prosecution based on the assumption that Palestine's 2009 Declaration of Competency is no longer valid and thus no signatory membership by the State of Palestine with respect to the jurisdiction of the Rome Statute of the ICC.

There are two pertinent questions-at-hand to identify Palestine's legitimacy in this action and the jurisdiction of the ICC. One of them is if Palestine is recognized, by the family of nations, as a State. According to a vote by the U.N. General Assembly on 29 November 2012, they were indeed recognized as a "non-member observer State." Satisfies that condition. The second question is whether they were a signatory member to the Rome Statute of the ICC. There appears to be two pieces of supporting evidence here. The first is that on 21 January 2009, the Palestinian National Authority formally accepted (authorized) the jurisdiction of the Courts. The second is that their status ("state-us") was upgraded in which we we will get to that in a moment. If Palestine was both recognized as a State and they formally accepted the Court's jurisdiction, wherein lies the problem?

(U.N. General Assembly)

In September 2012, the State of Palestine applied for an upgrade in their status from "observer entity" to "non-member observer State" in which Palestine would now be eligible to join treaties and participate in many international programs to include the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and what else? The ICC! What this means is that while the State of Palestine is an actual member of the family of nations, the 2009 Declaration of Competency was recognized when the U.N. voted in favor of recognizing Palestine as a Statehood in November 2012. This would seem to fully render the ICC's justification for rejecting Palestine's claims both unfounded and without merit.

It now appears that while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pleading with U.S. lawmakers to defend his actions against the likes of Gaza, Palestine the ICC is now pulling at straws with prejudice against the State of Palestine, which is still in the process of applying for full membership with the U.N.  If the State of Israel is to finally come under trial for international crimes, members of their government could face prison time and the State could face reparations to Palestine, which would be another diplomatic setback for the United States and Israel after Palestine was formally recognized as a State in November 2012 against their best wishes. Israel has refused and continues to refuse signing onto the ICC program.

This Court's rejection appears to be a violation of the honors and privileges that come with being an observer State of the U.N., a violation of the Law of Nations, and ultimately a violation of the Right of Self-Determination as an independent agency. A violation against the Rights of one State is a violation against the entire family of nations and this is why lawyers from around the world are assisting the Ministries of the State of Palestine in pleading with the ICC and filing against the State of Israel at this time.