Sharjah-based Al Khaleej said it is not surprising that Israel is threatening to take more punitive steps and tougher action against the Palestinians; it has never stopped doing this even since it first occupied Palestinian land. But the strange threat is that Israel says it will sue the Palestinians for war crimes and terrorism, on the heels of the Palestinian request to join the ICC, following their failed statehood bid at the United Nations.
“The Israeli occupier, which has acquired advanced weapons, tanks, warplanes and atomic bombs, has the vulgarity to threaten the Palestinians to sue them before the ICC. How rude and brutal is Israel, which kills Palestinians daily. There is no justice in the world. It is only the language of power that governs this world ...” the daily said.
Commenting on the issue, Lebanon’s Assafir daily said that the Palestinian move to sign the Rome statute of the ICC to sue Israel and hold it accountable for its crimes, including its latest aggression on Gaza, is a unique and bold step that deserves appreciation.
“While not a big surprise, the failure of a resolution on Palestinian statehood by 2017 at the UN must be taken as a sign that new routes must be considered, especially given that various world powers have no real desire to help the Palestinians achieve their legitimate demands. Hence, Palestinians must pursue their efforts until they regain their legitimate rights and create their independent state,” the paper said.
Jordan Times said: “The defeat at the UN Security Council of the draft Arab resolution, calling for a one-year timeframe for an end to the Israeli occupation by 2017, was the key reason behind the decision by the Palestinians to sign the Rome statute of the ICC and take Israel to it for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“The Palestinians have waited patiently for their leaders to take them onto the right path and for the world community to see the injustice of their situation and put things right with the same amount of enthusiasm with which it created Israel. Now they are faced with another setback and will have to start a new path.”
In its take on the issue, Palestinian daily Al Ayyam said: “It is sadly surprising when a superpower like the US, which has veto power at the Security Council, stands against the decision by a member of the international community to resort to the UN to sue an occupation [force] and demand legitimate rights!
“Does this mean that the US is against international law and stands with the outlaws? This also makes one asks: Is the US going back to its old legacy on which it built its civilisation on the rubble of the American Indians?”
Oman’s Al Watan urged Palestinians to no longer listen to Washington and its misleading advice after it voted against their draft statehood resolution. “Washington’s anger and clear-cut rejection of the Palestinian National Authority’s bid to join the ICC is inseparable from its overall stand of seeking to liquidate the Palestinian cause. As Israel keeps insisting that Palestinians are terrorists, why is it that it is Palestine that seeks to join the ICC and not Israel? Palestine must now keep pursuing these other avenues for statehood ...,” the paper observed.
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