JERUSALEM, Israel – The International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed Thursday it sent formal notices to Israeli and Palestinian leaders about its potential war crimes investigation, giving both parties a month to seek deferral by proving they are carrying out their own investigations.
The ICC announced this month it would investigate alleged war crimes committed by Israelis and Palestinians following a request by the Palestinians, who joined the court in 2015 after receiving nonmember observer status by the United Nations.
Israel is not a member of the ICC and claims the court is being biased against it. The ICC rejects these claims of bias.
The ICC’s impending investigation will center largely on Israel’s 2014 war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s crackdown on rioters at the Gaza border, and Israel’s settlement enterprise in the West Bank – biblical Judea and Samaria.
After conducting a five-year preliminary investigation, ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda determined there is a “reasonable basis to believe” that both sides of the conflict committed crimes.
She believes there is evidence that Hamas and other Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip violated international law by intentionally attacking Israeli civilians, using human shields, torturing political rivals, and depriving individuals of the right to a fair trial.
In this Wednesday, July 16, 2014, file photo, a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from inside Gaza Strip makes its way towards Israel. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)
Bensouda believes Israel may have violated the law through intentional or disproportionate attacks on Palestinian civilians and medical targets during the 2014 war and during Israel’s response to the 2018 weekly border riots.
Israel and Hamas could potentially defer the investigation if they provide the court a detailed account of how they are investigating potential crimes and holding individuals accountable. Israel says it routinely investigates and punishes its own troops for violations. However, Palestinians have expressed outrage over the idea that rocket attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilian populations constitute a war crime. They consider those attacks to be self-defense and will likely not seek deferral by launching their own investigation.
While Israel could potentially avoid an investigation into its actions in Gaza, its settlement communities in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem present a different challenge. Israel captured this territory during the war in 1967, but the Palestinians want it for their future state. Today, some 700,000 Israeli settlers live in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, a reality the international community considers to be the illegal occupation of disputed territory whose status should be decided in bilateral talks between Israelis and Palestinians. International law forbids the transfer of civilians to territory captured during a war.
Neither Israeli nor Palestinian leaders have given public responses to the court’s notice. Israeli media report that the country’s National Security Council has discussed the matter, but hasn’t made a decision yet.
Meanwhile, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin is attempting to rally Israel’s European allies against the court.
“Every attempt to twist Israel’s hands through international bodies by cynical or political exploitation of international law is doomed to failure,” Rivlin said in Paris on Thursday.
If the court moves forward with an investigation, charges, and convicts Israelis and Palestinians for war crimes, the ICC could issue international arrest warrants upon travel abroad. That means any of the 123 ICC member states are obligated to arrest these convicted individuals if they are caught in their countries.
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