[News] Evidence of Israeli apartheid, pillage and murder handed to Hague court

Fri Sep 22 12:43:47 EDT 2017

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/evidence-israeli-apartheid-pillage-and-murder-handed-hague-court 

  Evidence of Israeli apartheid, pillage and murder handed to Hague court

Ali Abunimah <https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah> - 21 
September 2017

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Four Palestinian human rights organizations on Wednesday handed 700 
pages of evidence 
<http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/topics/human-rights-defenders/1140-palestinian-human-rights-organisations-submit-evidence-to-the-icc-prosecutor-on-crimes-committed-in-west-bankPalestinian> 
of Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity to the prosecutor of 
the International Criminal Court 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/international-criminal-court>.

This comes as two Palestinian communities in the West Bank face 
imminent, total Israeli destruction.

The crimes detailed in the dossier include persecution, apartheid 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/landmark-un-report-backs-israel-boycott>, 
the extensive theft, destruction and pillage of Palestinian property and 
evidence of the “wilful killing and murder” of hundreds of Palestinians 
since 2014.

Shawan Jabarin, director of the human rights group Al-Haq, said the 
dossier “provides a compelling and reasonable basis” for the prosecutor 
to open an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against 
humanity by Israel in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

This is the fourth dossier the human rights groups have provided the 
court. While it focuses on the West Bank, the previous files related to 
crimes committed by senior Israeli civilian and military officials 
during the 2014 attack on Gaza.

    Death threats and harassment

Jabarin handed the file to the court in The Hague along with colleague 
Nada Kiswanson.

Kiswanson and other human rights investigators affiliated with Al-Haq 
have been the targets of a long-running campaign of harassment and death 
threats that a veteran Israeli analyst has tied 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-using-black-ops-against-bds-says-veteran-analyst> 
to Israeli government “black ops.”

Al-Haq believes the threats are tied to Kiswanson’s work preparing the 
dossiers for the international court. The government of the Netherlands, 
where the court is based, has said 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/adri-nieuwhof/threats-against-palestinian-groups-may-damage-netherlands-government-says> 
that a criminal investigation has been opened into the threats.

    “Israeli Jewish domination”

According to a statement from Al-Haq, the latest file “addresses 
Israel’s endeavor to enlarge its territory and ensure Israeli Jewish 
domination therein by altering the demographic composition of the 
occupied Palestinian territory.”

Raji Sourani, director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, said 
that Israel’s transfer of settlers into occupied Palestinian land 
“constitutes a unique war crime in that is coupled with the confiscation 
of massive tracts of Palestinian land, the extensive destruction of 
Palestinian property and the tearing apart of the Palestinian social 
fabric and way of life.”

Although Israel’s violations in the occupied West Bank can be looked at 
separately from those in Gaza, Issam Younis, director of the Al Mezan 
Center for Human Rights, explained how they are linked: “The isolation 
of Gaza, in addition to the regular, full-scale military assaults, 
ultimately enables Israel to consolidate its control over the whole 
occupied Palestinian territory and deny Palestinians their 
internationally recognized right to self-determination.”

    Pressure

Israel’s conduct during the 2014 Gaza war, as well as allegations of 
numerous crimes in the West Bank, are currently the subject of a 
preliminary examination 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/hague-prosecutor-updates-palestine-war-crimes-probe> 
by the Hague prosecutors.

They must decide whether to open a full investigation 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/icc-preliminary-probe-palestine-still-long-way-war-crimes-trials>, 
which could lead to formal indictments of Israeli officials and military 
personnel.

There is no time limit on the preliminary examination, and the 
prosecutors are under constant pressure from Israel and the United 
States to let Israel off the hook. They have every incentive to sit on 
their hands.

    Sham self-investigations

Last month, two human rights groups concluded 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/child-footballers-killed-israel-get-no-justice> 
that Israel’s own system for investigating alleged crimes against 
Palestinians by its forces is a sham.

Hundreds of cases, including the notorious killings of four boys playing 
football on a beach in July 2014, have not resulted in any 
accountability for the perpetrators.

In May 2016, B’Tselem announced it would no longer cooperate 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/we-will-no-longer-be-fig-leaf-occupation-says-btselem> 
with Israeli military investigations of killings and other attacks on 
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

“We will no longer aid a system that whitewashes investigations and 
serves as a fig leaf for the occupation,” the Israeli human rights 
group’s director explained.

When it comes to crimes like apartheid and settler colonization, Israel 
would obviously do nothing to investigate and punish itself – since 
these crimes are planned and executed by the state itself.

But even in situations where Israel recognizes – at least on paper – 
that a certain act is a crime, there has been zero accountability.

This should be an important factor in the prosecutors’ decisions because 
according to its founding statute 
<https://www.icc-cpi.int/nr/rdonlyres/ea9aeff7-5752-4f84-be94-0a655eb30e16/0/rome_statute_english.pdf>, 
the International Criminal Court only steps in when national judicial 
authorities are unwilling or unable to carry out genuine proceedings 
<https://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/20BB4494-70F9-4698-8E30-907F631453ED/281984/complementarity.pdf>.

    Villages face destruction

Whether the court acts is not just a matter of accounting for the past, 
but of stopping ongoing crimes.

This month, B’Tselem warned 
<http://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20170905_susiya_and_khan_al_ahmar_demolition_threat> 
top Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 
defense minister Avigdor Lieberman and the military chief of staff, that 
they would be personally liable for war crimes if they proceed with the 
apparently imminent destruction of Khan al-Ahmar 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/khan-al-ahmar> and Susiya 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/susiya>, two communities in the 
West Bank.

“The demolition of entire communities in the occupied territories is 
virtually unprecedented since 1967,” B’Tselem said.

Robert Piper <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/robert-piper>, the top 
UN humanitarian aid official in Palestine, tweeted, “All eyes on the 
Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar at risk of forcible transfers by 
Israeli authorities over the coming days.”

He inadvertently identified a problem in which the UN plays a major 
part: the so-called international community stands on the sidelines and 
just watches as Israel commits crimes daily.

It is obvious that Israel will never bring itself to justice and that it 
is up to the International Criminal Court to act. It has mountains of 
evidence in its hands. The question is whether it has the independence 
and the will to do its job.

-- 
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