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Since the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, launched the global global justice machinery in the former Middle East conflict in December on a Palestinian initiative, Israel has intervened decisively in diplomatic forums to address to an eventual process for war crimes and against humanity. In the middle of the campaign for the legislative elections next Monday, and while the conservative Israeli parties promise a new expansion of the settlements, EL PAÍS has interviewed a prominent representative of each side in dispute to know his version of a judicial case that threatens to alter The paradigm of a stagnant conflict.
While veteran leader Saeb Erekat states that the Palestinians have knocked on the door of the ICC to "end impunity for the crimes of the occupation," former Israeli diplomat and legal expert Daniel Taub wields the absence of jurisdiction of the Hague court before a "Palestinian state that still does not control its own territory either in Gaza or in the West Bank."
Despite expressing its conviction that “war crimes have been committed in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem,” the ICC prosecutor's office has asked the judges to give a preliminary ruling on their “territorial jurisdiction” before the “ very disputed legal situation ”existing on the ground.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the ICC of acting as "a political weapon to delegitimize the Jewish state." Israel denies that The Hague has jurisdiction over Israel, which is not a signatory party to the Rome Statute, the treaty by which the ICC was founded in 2002.
After the incorporation of Palestine in 2015 to the agreement that governs the ICC, the Hague prosecutor's office opened preliminary proceedings on the expansion of settlements and the demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and on the wars in Gaza from 2009 to 2014 The investigations in the Strip can also involve the enclave militias, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, for the massive launch of rockets indiscriminately against the Israeli population.
The Government of Netanyahu fears first of all that the opening of an international criminal investigation may lead to charges against high charges suspected of having committed war crimes or against humanity in Palestinian territories and that, consequently, they may be arrested abroad under court arrest warrants. The ICC will begin to examine its jurisdiction over the case after next Monday's elections.
Saeb Erekat | Palestinian chief negotiatorSince the peace conference in Madrid (1991), Saeb Erekat (Palestine, 64 years) has not ceased to represent the interests of his people before the world. Chief negotiator with the Israelis - "in 2014 Benjamín Netanyahu paralyzed the last dialogue," he recalls - is one of the main voices of the Palestinian Authority. He twists the gesture in his office of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Ramallah, while citing the presence of Germany and four other European countries on Israel's side before the International Criminal Court (ICC), which in March will examine the accusation of war crimes and against humanity presented against the Jewish State. "Our support includes the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League, which total 57 countries," he said. “We focus mainly on the content of the accusation, not on preliminary questions about whether the court has jurisdiction or not, and that is what Germany and the countries that support Israel should consider, such as Brazil: if there is high criminal responsibility Israeli charges. " The ICC must decide in advance the territorial scope of the investigations. Read the interview here.
Daniel Taub | Exdiplomatic and Israeli expert in international lawHe left the United Kingdom, where he was born in 1962, in the direction of Israel to return in 2011 as ambassador for his new country. Exdiplomatic who participated in the main negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, Daniel Taub is an expert in international law. “In the case of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Israel,” he clarifies when entering the lobby of the iconic King David hotel in Jerusalem, “the preliminary question of the jurisdiction of the court before opening an investigation is central. Otherwise, there will be no case. ” Read the interview here.
