Sovereignty, that old-new friend, is in vogue again thanks to Brexit and the advances made by nationalists across Europe and the United States. Those of us who lament these developments should not regret the reassertion of national sovereignty, for it is intimately linked to democracy and self-determination and provides domestic legitimacy for the kind of liberal, cooperative world order we wish to see. If you want a strong international community, you need to have strong, confident nation-states in which people believes their country can be active in the world without losing its sense of self.
Sovereignty is at the heart of the International Criminal Court’s ruling that it enjoys the jurisdiction to investigate alleged war crimes in eastern Jerusalem, Gaza, and Judea and Samaria. This has been coming for some time, with chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda having indicated in 2019 that she wanted to open an investigation in what she calls ‘Palestine’, more than 12 months before the court established whether it had jurisdiction.
The pre-trail chamber opinion is keen to stress that it would be looking for potential ‘war crimes’ committed by Israel or the Palestinians. But anyone with a passing familiarity with elite attitudes to the Middle East conflict knows which of the two is likely to face greater scrutiny. The ICC can be expected to pronounce on everything from voluntary civilian settlement of Judea and Samaria to Israel’s defensive actions against Hamas in Gaza.
The United States seems to recognise what is afoot. A spokesman for the State Department said:
‘The United States objects to today’s International Criminal Court decision regarding the Palestinian situation. Israel is not a state party to the Rome Statute. We will continue to uphold president Biden’s strong commitment to Israel and its security, including opposing actions that seek to target Israel unfairly.’
Australia’s foreign minister Marise Payne has expressed ‘deep concerns’. Noting that ‘Australia does not recognise a ‘State of Palestine’’, something Canberra made clear to the pre-trial chamber during its deliberations. Payne says ‘Australia does not therefore recognise the right of any so-called ‘State of Palestine’ to accede to the Rome Statute’.
Read the article by Stephen Daisley in The Spectator.