Palestinians submit documents to join ICC

The Palestinian Authority submitted documents to the United Nations to join the International Criminal Court on Friday, moving forward with the bureaucracy that will soon enable them to pursue war crime charges against Israel.

The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, delivered the documents — known as instruments of ratification — to Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Stephen Mathias on Friday morning.

“This is a very significant step,” Mansour told reporters. “We are seeking justice for all the victims that have been killed by Israel, the occupying power.”

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to review the so-called instruments of accession and notify state members on the request within 60 days.

“We are honored that we are the 123rd state-party of the ICC, which will be effective in about 60 days from now in accordance with the rules and procedures of the ICC,” Mansour said.

The Palestinians are moving to join the court after suffering a defeat in the UN Security Council, which rejected a resolution that called on Israel to pull out of the West Bank and East Jerusalem within three years.

Israel has threatened retaliation if the Palestinians join the court, and the United States has also vehemently opposed the move as an obstacle to hopes of reaching an Israeli-Palestinians peace deal.

The International Criminal Court has recognized the UN General Assembly’s recognition of Palestine as an observer state. Handing over the paperwork is the last formal step for Palestine to become a member of the ICC, which would take at least 60 days.

At the international court, the Palestinians could seek to have Israeli military or political figures prosecuted for alleged crimes involving settlement construction on occupied lands or actions by the military that cause heavy civilian casualties, for instance. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said it is the Palestinians who will find themselves in the dock for Hamas’s terrorism and indiscriminate rocket fire at Israel.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday asked the ICC to investigate Israel for war crimes allegedly committed during the 50-day war with Hamas and other Gaza terror groups last summer.

In the request filed with the Dutch Embassy Thursday morning, Abbas asked the court in The Hague to investigate Israel retroactively for alleged war crimes starting from June 13, 2014 — a day after three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered by a Hamas cell in the West Bank, an unnamed NGO worker told Haaretz.

The petition to the court was submitted after Abbas signed the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, on Wednesday evening, and filed a request to become a member state.

Earlier on Thursday, the Palestinians submitted letters of accession to 20 international treaties, including the Rome Statute, to Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, James W. Rawley, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

Israeli analysts have highlighted a long and highly complex process ahead before the ICC could move to file indictments against Israeli figures for alleged war crimes.

According to the Palestinian NGO worker who spoke to Haaretz, top Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials said they are willing to risk prosecution by the international court, provided an official investigation into Israel’s alleged war crimes is conducted.

Tamar Pileggi contributed to this report.