Most Arabs, particularly Palestinians, were seemingly ecstatic that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had complied with the urgent request to investigate the charges of war crimes in the Occupied Territories levelled against Israel by the Palestinians.
This issue has troubled the Middle East since 1967, when Israel aggressively pursued the establishment of illegal Jewish colonies in an area that is hardly 22 per cent of historical Palestine, where Palestinians plan to establish their independent state. About 500,000 Israelis have illegally colonised the occupied West Bank and more keep on moving there regularly. About 7,000 French Jews are reportedly planning to immigrate to Israel after the recent horrific attacks in Paris by extremists.
The ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, a Gambian international criminal law prosecutor and legal adviser, opened a “preliminary examination” into the situation in Palestine on January 16, much to the chagrin of Israel and, disappointingly, the United States. The focus of the examination will be the alleged crimes since June 13 — in other words the 50-day Israeli assault on the besieged Gaza Strip, in which more than 2,100 Palestinians about 500 children were killed.
Amnesty International, among others, according to the United Press International, has already collected a large amount of evidence indicating that Israel committed crimes in Gaza last summer. But what has been agonising for many Arabs, especially Palestinians, has been the American reaction to preliminary step taken by the ICC, which came on the heels of the rejection of Palestinian membership at the United Nations Security Council at the behest of the US and Israel. American senators have also threatened to cut off $400 million (Dh1.4 billion) in aid to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). (For the record, the US continues to provide Israel $3 billion annually in military aid.).
The ICC decision prompted an unprecedented level of US anger. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke declared that “Palestine is not a state and Israel should not be investigated because it has a right to defend itself from thousands of rockets,” an obvious reference to what Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group, had fired during Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip.
He went on: “We strongly disagree with the ICC Prosecutor’s action today. As we have said repeatedly, we do no believe that Palestine is a state and therefore we do not believe that it is eligible to join the ICC. It is a irony that Israel, which has withstood thousands of terrorist rockets fired at its civilians and its neighbourhoods, is now being scrutinised by the ICC; the place to resolve the differences between the parties is through direct negotiations, not unilateral actions by either side. We will continue to oppose actions against Israel at the ICC as counterproductive to the cause of peace.” Obviously, the spokesman has shockingly not kept up with the recent developments. Palestine has acceded to the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the court. This indicated that the preliminary examination was not taken at the discretion of Bensouda, but rather as a matter of routine.
Palestinians committed to peace talks
Rather than unfairly open fire on the PNA, the State Department should pay attention to what Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the press during the visit this week of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who donated $100 million (Dh367.3 million) to the Authority to help in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and create job opportunities for Palestinians.
Palestinians committed to peace talks
Israel has been withholding tax money, estimated at $127 million, that it collects on behalf of the PNA in retaliation for the Palestinians joining the ICC. Underlining the fact that Israel must choose between peace and colonies on occupied Palestinian land, Abbas stressed that he was committed to resuming peace talks with Israel “on the basis of the Arab peace initiative and UN resolutions”.
Abbas continued: “Our hands remain extended for peace. [Israel] must choose between peace and [illegal] ... [colony] expansion at our expense. You can’t achieve peace through collective punishment by withholding our money, and not through racist measures on the ground and the continued incarceration of thousands of prisoners.”
In other words, it is high time the Obama administration began squeezing the hands of Israel and the moneyed Israeli lobby, which reins supreme in the US. But regrettably Obama failed to even make any reference to Palestine in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night but assured Israel of protection, presumably from Iran. This being the case, the Palestinians cannot be blamed for seeking help from the UN. After all, Secretary of State John Kerry failed in his long-winded peace negotiations between the two parties.
Credit: George S. Hishmeh is a Washington-based columnist. He can be contacted at ghishmeh@gulfnews.com
