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robg
Posted: Jan 4th, 2009 at 3:14 pm |
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Victor S
Posted: Jan 18th, 2009 at 8:11 pm |
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The ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel or the occupied territories because Israel is a signatory but not a state party to the ICC, and the occupied territories are not a state and thus also not state parties to the ICC. The ICTY and the ICTR however are ad hoc tribunals established beyond the rubric of the ICC, and thus a similar ad hoc tribunal could be established covering Israel/Palestine without Israel having to be a state party to the ICC. The existing ad hoc tribunals were established by the UN Security Council. The UNSC would never establish such a tribunal for Israel/Palestine, as the US would veto such a proposal. However, the UN General Assembly also has the power to do so under Article 22 of the Charter. Such a tribunal properly should cover both Israel and the occupied territories. Any war crimes committed by Palestinian actors should be investigated, as indeed should war crimes allegedly committed by anyone. A war crime is a war crime, no matter who perpetrated it. However, the crimes perpetrated by Israel so manifestly outweigh any that may have been committed by Palestinian actors that such a move would hardly result in some sort of equivalence between the two sides. Other legal alternatives could be cases brought against Israeli actors in countries recognising universal jurisdiction. Germany, Spain, the UK and Canada do this. |

There can be no peace without justice. The belief that everyone in the middle-east can do whatever they want hinders every peace process.
However, why create a new tribunal? The International Criminal Court of the UN has been in place a few years now and can prosecute war crimes in the middle east by all means. The ICTY and ICTR had been created because the ICC had not been in place back in the 90s.
Also, it is more likely that the prosecution of war criminals would be supported by the international community if the terminology “prosecution of war crimes in the Middle East” was chosen over “prosecution of Israeli war crimes.
What do you think?