(credit: icc.int)  International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

The International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled Friday that the Court’s territorial jurisdiction in the Situation in Palestine extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.  The action gives the green light for The Hague, Netherlands-based court to launch a probe into  alleged  war crimes committed by Israel  in Palestine.  ICC chief prosecutor Fatou  Bensouda  said in 2019 that a criminal investigation, if approved, would focus on the 2014 Israel-Hamas conflict (Operation Protective Edge), on Israeli settlement policy and on the Israeli response to protests at the Gaza border.  On 20 December 2019, the ICC Prosecutor announced the conclusion of the preliminary examination of the Situation in Palestine. The Prosecutor determined that all the statutory criteria under the Rome Statute for the opening of an investigation have been met.  The United Nations, the ICC , the European Parliament and Amnesty International have stated that the demolition of villages  in the occupied West Bank would be a violation of international law, being a breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention. 

“In addition, the Chamber found, by majority, that the arguments regarding the Oslo Agreements, and its clauses limiting the scope of Palestinian jurisdiction, are not pertinent to the resolution of the issue of the Court’s territorial jurisdiction in Palestine. Such matters and other further questions on jurisdiction may be examined when and if the Prosecutor submits an application for the issuance of a warrant of arrest or summons to appear.”

-ICC Prosecutor  Fatou  Bensouda 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday assailed the International Criminal Court

for ruling it has jurisdiction to open a war crimes investigation against Israel, calling such a probe “pure anti-Semitism” and vowing to fight it.