The ICC has found it has jurisdiction over war crimes committed in Palestinian territories, giving a green light to a potential criminal probe which Australia tried to block.
The International Criminal Court has found it has jurisdiction over war crimes committed in Palestinian territories, allowing a potential criminal probe which Australia tried to block to go ahead.
The decision has divided opinion. Swiftly condemned by Israel and the United States, it was welcomed by the Palestinian Authority and human rights groups here and abroad. And it’s one that further emphasises the Morrison government’s pro-Israel position, with Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne saying Australia has “deep concerns” about the ICC’s decision.
The ICC’s ruling is just the latest chapter in a long and ongoing legal saga. In late 2019, after a five-year preliminary investigation, the ICC’s office of the prosecutor concluded there was sufficient evidence to begin an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by both the Israeli Defence Forces and Hamas in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
Israel, despite not being a member of the ICC, disputed whether the court had jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories. ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked the court’s pre-trial chamber to resolve that.
At that stage Australia was one of just seven state parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty governing the ICC, to intervene in the case. In an amicus brief filed with the court last February, Australia argued the court lacked jurisdiction to investigate on the basis that Palestine is not a state.
A majority of the ICC’s pre-trial chamber rejected that and held that the criminal investigation could continue on the basis that Palestine had already acceded to the Rome Statute in 2015.
But as the most recent decision notes, Australia did not object to Palestine’s accession at the time. Crucially, the pre-trial chamber said its judgment has no bearing on deeper issues of Palestinian statehood.
Read the article by Kishor Napier-Raman in Crikey.