UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said late on Tuesday that the state of Palestine will join the International Criminal Court on April 1, a high-stakes move that enables the Palestinians to pursue war crimes charges against Israel.
The Palestinians submitted documents ratifying the Rome Statute that established the court on Friday last week, the last formal step to accepting the jurisdiction of the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal. The UN said the secretary-general would review the paperwork.
In a statement posted on the UN’s treaty Web site, the secretary-general announced his acceptance of the documents saying: “The statute will enter into force for the State of Palestine on April 1, 2015,” in accordance with the court’s procedures.
He said he was “acting in his capacity as depositary” for the documents of ratification.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed documents to join the court a day after the UN Security Council rejected a resolution on Dec. 30 last year that would have set a three-year deadline for the establishment of a Palestinian state on lands occupied by Israel.
Joining the court is part of a broader Palestinian strategy to pressure Israel into withdrawing from the territories and agreeing to Palestinian statehood. Abbas has been under heavy domestic pressure to take stronger action against Israel after a 50-day war with the Jewish state in the Gaza Strip over the summer, tensions over holy sites in Jerusalem and the failure of the last round of US-led peace talks.
The Palestinian decision to join the court has already sparked retaliation from Israel, which froze the transfer of more than US$100 million in tax funds collected for the Palestinians on Saturday. It promised tougher action on Sunday.
The US also opposed the move, calling it an obstacle to reaching a permanent peace agreement that would give the Palestinians an independent state. US President Barack Obama’s administration said on Monday that it was reviewing its annual US$440 million aid package to the Palestinians because of the decision to join the court.
While Palestinian membership in the court does not compel US punishment, any Palestinian case against Israel would trigger an immediate cutoff of US financial support under US law.
Palestinian Permanent Observer to the UN Riyad Mansour said last week that the Palestinians are seeking to raise alleged crimes committed by Israel, including during last summer’s war in Gaza. He added that they would seek justice for settlements on Palestinian territory, which he said constitute a war crime under the Rome Statute.
The ICC said that the Palestinians submitted a document to ICC Registrar Herman von Hebel in The Hague, Netherlands, on Thursday last week affirming that Palestine accepts the jurisdiction of the court beginning on June 13 last year — about a month before the latest Gaza war started.
In Monday’s news release, the court highlighted that accepting its jurisdiction “does not automatically trigger an investigation.”
Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda must determine whether the criteria under the statute for opening an investigation have been met, it added.
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