The International Criminal Court announced Friday that it is launching a preliminary inquiry into possible war crimes committed in Palestinian territories.
“This is an important development in the struggle for accountability. If an investigation is launched and charges are brought and convictions obtained, that could deter Israel from committing such crimes in the future,” Marjorie Cohn, a professor of human rights at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, told teleSUR.
The inquiry is not to be confused with an investigation. Rather, it is the first step for the court to decide whether a full investigation into war crimes is warranted, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s office explained in a statement. The scope of the inquiry will probe alleged crimes “in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, since June 13, 2014.”
This would cover Israel’s 50-day attack on Gaza last summer, which Tel Aviv dubbed “Operation Protective Edge.” The Israeli military offensive killed over 2,100 Palestinians, more than half of which were civilians, including 495 children and 253 women, according to U.N. figures.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon confirmed last week that Palestine would become an official member of the court April 1.
“The case is now in the hands of the court,” said Nabil Abuznaid, head of the Palestinian delegation in The Hague, where the ICC is based. “It is a legal matter now and we have faith in the court system.”
Francis Boyle, a law professor at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, told teleSUR that he thought “it took a lot of guts for the Palestinians to do this and fight back.”
However, he said that unlike Abuznaid, he has little faith that justice will be served for the Palestinians “slaughtered” in last summer’s Israeli military offensive. He said that the ICC principally follows a political agenda largely set by the United States and the West.
This is something Cohn, editor of “The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration and Abuse,” noted as well.
“There is also tremendous political pressure from the U.S. and Israel to avoid such a result,” said Cohn about the prospect of a prosecution. “It remains to be seen whether Bensouda will function as an independent actor and enforce the statute.”
While Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki welcomed the move and said the Palestinian Authority would cooperate, Israel responded harshly.
”Israel categorically rejects the statement by the ICC prosecutor,” reads a statement released the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the decision was scandalous and that Tel Aviv would take international action to have the ICC dismantled.
The ICC, which is independent of the United Nations, was established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.