GAZA // Hamas has given it consent for the Palestinians to join the International Criminal Court, a move that could open up both Israel and the militant group to war crime investigations over the fighting in Gaza.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas leader based in Cairo, said he had signed a document that the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said all factions must endorse before he proceeds with the ICC push.
Mr Abbas said in Cairo on Saturday that he had asked all factions to join the ICC bid, adding: “There will be results for them joining.”
If the Palestinians were to sign the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, the court would have jurisdiction over crimes committed in the Palestinian territories.
An investigation could then examine events as far back as mid-2002, when the ICC opened with a mandate to try individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Explaining the Islamist group’s decision to sign, Hamas official Mushir Al Masri said: “There is nothing to fear, the Palestinian factions are leading legitimate resistance in keeping with all international laws and standards.”
“We are in a state of self-defence.”
There was no immediate comment from Israel, which is also not an ICC member. It says Hamas has committed war crimes by both firing thousands of rockets indiscriminately at Israeli towns and cities and by launching the projectiles from densely populated areas of Gaza.
Both Israel and Hamas defend their military operations as consistent with international law.
In a meeting with ICC prosecutors this month to push for an investigation, the Palestinian foreign minister Riyad Al Maliki said there was “clear evidence” of war crimes by Israel during its offensive in Gaza launched on July 8.
Hamas, which dominates Gaza, is shunned by Israel and the West as a terrorist group. The Islamist group’s founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel.
Mr Al Maliki has said the Palestinian Authority’s current UN status, upgraded to “non-member state” from “entity” by a vote of the General Assembly in 2012, qualified it to become an ICC member and a decision on whether to apply could happen “very soon”.
As neither Israel nor the Palestinians are ICC members, the court currently lacks jurisdiction over Gaza. This could be granted by a UN Security Council resolution, but Israel’s main ally, the United States, would probably veto any such proposal.
Membership of the ICC opens countries to investigations both on their behalf and against them. Several powers, including the United States, have declined to ratify the ICC founding treaty, citing the possibility of politically motivated prosecutions.
The ICC is a court of last resort, meaning that it will only intervene when a country is found to be unwilling or unable to carry out its own investigation.
* Reuters
