Gaza: Hamas has signed a pledge to back any Palestinian bid to join the International Criminal Court, two senior officials in the group said on Saturday. Such a step could expose Israel — as well as Hamas — to war crimes investigations.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has debated for months whether to join the court, a step that would transform his relations with Israel from tense to openly hostile and could also strain his ties with the United States.
The decision by Hamas to sign a document in support of a court bid removes a major obstacle, though it’s not clear if Abbas now will go ahead. A hesitant Abbas has said he would not make any decision without the written backing of all Palestinian factions. Last month, he obtained such support from all factions in the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
Hamas, which is not a PLO member, has said it would study the idea. Its decision to support the court option came after almost seven weeks of a deadly cross-border war with Israel and several failed ceasefire efforts.
Since the war erupted on July 8, more than 2,090 Palestinians have been killed, including close to 500 children, and about 100,000 Gazans have been left homeless, according to United Nations figures and Palestinian officials. Since the start of the Gaza war, Abbas has come under growing domestic pressure to pave the way for a possible war crimes investigation of Israel. Last month, he told senior PLO officials and leaders of smaller political groups he would only go ahead if Hamas supports the bid.
If Abbas were to turn to the court, Hamas could be investigated for indiscriminate rocket fire at Israel since 2000. Israel could come under scrutiny for its actions in the current Gaza war as well as decades of illegal colony building on occupied Palestinian territory wanted for a future state.
Izzat Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said on Saturday that Hamas was not concerned about becoming a target of a war crimes investigation and urged Abbas to act “as soon as possible”.
“We are under occupation, under daily attack and our fighters are defending their people,” he said. “These rockets are meant to stop Israeli attacks and it is well known that Israel initiated this war and previous wars.”
However, it is not clear if such arguments would hold up in court. After the last major round of Israel-Hamas fighting more than five years ago, a UN fact-finding team said both Israel and Hamas violated the rules of war by targeting civilians — Hamas by firing rockets at Israel.
Hamas’ decision to back a court bid came after meetings on Thursday and Friday in Qatar between Abbas and the top Hamas leader in exile, Khalid Mesha’al.
Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas leader who participated in the meetings, wrote on his Facebook page early Saturday that “Hamas has signed the paper” of support Abbas had requested. Abu Marzouk’s post was also reported on Hamas news websites.
A senior Palestinian official has said Abbas likely would wait for the findings of a UN-appointed commission of inquiry into possible Gaza war crimes — due by March — before turning to the court. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss internal deliberations with reporters.
He noted that the court, established in 2002, would only get involved if it determined that the two sides are not conducting their own credible investigations of alleged war crimes.
Turning to the International Criminal Court became an option for Abbas in 2012, after the UN General Assembly recognised “Palestine” in the West Bank, Gaza and occupied east Jerusalem, lands captured by Israel in 1967, as a non-member observer state. The upgrade to a state opened the door to requesting the court’s jurisdiction in Palestine.
