PA reportedly considering legal action against foreign minister, other settlers
Legal adviser to Mahmoud Abbas says suing Israelis in foreign courts for actions in the West Bank is a possibility
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The Palestinian Authority is reportedly considering taking international legal action against Israelis — including Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman — who practice “terrorism” against Palestinians.
According to Ma’an News, Hasan al-Auri, a legal adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, said the PA was exploring the option of initiating lawsuits against individual Israeli settlers or officials in foreign national courts that allow the prosecution of non-citizens.
Auri said the Palestinians would seek to prosecute Liberman, who lives in the settlement of Nokdim in the West Bank, for “terrorism.”
He said that the PA had already started to update officials from the Middle East Quartet, the United States and other countries on perceived violations.
The move comes days after Liberman told Israel Radio that Abbas was a “man of terror” involved in “political terrorism.”
Auri said that due to their bias, Israeli courts would not be appropriate venues to sue settlers for illegal action against Palestinians.
According to the report, a provision of the Oslo Accords prevents legal action in Palestinian courts against Israelis. Moreover, because Palestine is not a full member of the United Nations, it cannot initiate lawsuits against Israeli leaders in the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
The Times of Israel Community.