Jaffa—i24news.tv reports that Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki believed the latest ceasefire in Gaza will hold, despite the fact that theywill continue to try to charge Israel with war crimes in the Hague’s International Criminal Courts (ICC).
“We expect the ceasefire to expand into another 72 hours and beyond,” Malki told reporters at a press conference in The Hague, where he earlier met the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda.
“We have heard that Israel has really committed itself to withdrawing… but it really depends on Israel and the seriousness of the Israeli side,” Malki said.
Malki met Bensouda to learn how to become a co-signer of the Rome Statute. The US objects to the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to try Israel in the ICC. “We object to one sided actions. Right now the focus should be on the honoring of the ceasefire,” said the spokesperson for the US State Department.
In late November 2012 Palestine obtained non-member observer status at the United Nations, opening the door for an ICC investigation. The leadership has since been under intense pressure from including the US, Britain and France and others to desist from signing up for an ICC probe.
The war, Malki said, forced them to revisit the issue. “Israel has left us with no other option than to take this approach,” he said, referring to “atrocities” committed in Gaza. “We must do everything in our power to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he said.
When i24 asked Malki if Palestinians could also be accountable, Malki said the Palestinian leadership was ready to accept the court’s findings. But the ICC said they have no jurisdiction over Palestine because they are not signers of the Rome statute and they have yet to receive any official requests for an investigation.
