Israel-based rights group files war crimes complaint with ICC against Palestinians News
Israel-based rights group files war crimes complaint with ICC against Palestinians

[JURIST] Israel-based rights organization Shurat HaDin Law Center [advocacy website] announced Monday that it has filed a complaint [press release] with the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] accusing three Palestinian leaders of war crimes. The complaint brings accusations of terrorism, torture and civil rights violations against Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) [official website] leaders Jibril Rajoub and Majid Faraj and current Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah. The complaint is similar to that brought in September [JURIST report] by the same organization against Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal [Time report] and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas [BBC profile]. The filing comes only days after Palestine announced [press release] that they would be accepting the ICC’s jurisdiction and join with them in an attempt to bring war crime charges against Israel. The ICC receives a great deal of these requests, and rarely acts on them. Spokesman for the PLO Ahmad Assaf stated [AP report] that the ICC should focus on Israel and that “people under occupation have the right to resist their occupiers, according to the international law.”

The feud between Israel [JURIST news archive] and Palestine [JURIST news archive] has continued to be an extremely controversial topic. Earlier this week Israeli officials announced [JURIST report] that Israel will withhold the transfer of tax revenues to the government of the Palestinian Authority. The withholding of $127 million collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority is a strategic response to Palestine’s application to join the ICC submitted days earlier. In December Abbas told [JURIST report] US Secretary of State John Kerry that Palestine plans to submit a resolution for a UN Security Council statehood bid. Also last month Israel’s Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] to demolish a Jewish settlement at Amona in West Bank. In early December Amnesty International said [JURIST report] the Israeli army’s air strikes on four landmark buildings in Gaza from July to August 2014 were deliberate and indicative of war crimes.

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