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<span class="credit">(Ismael Mohamad / United Press International)</span>
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<h1 class="title" id="page-title"><small>Abbas runs out of excuses
for inaction on Israel’s war crimes </small></h1>
<div class="submitted">
<span property="dc:date dc:created"
content="2014-07-30T13:39:50+00:00" datatype="xsd:dateTime"
rel="sioc:has_creator">Submitted by <span class="username"
xml:lang="" about="/users/jalal-abukhater"
typeof="sioc:UserAccount" property="foaf:name" datatype="">Jalal
Abukhater</span> on Wed, 07/30/2014 - 13:39<br>
<b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/jalal-abukhater/abbas-runs-out-excuses-inaction-israels-war-crimes">http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/jalal-abukhater/abbas-runs-out-excuses-inaction-israels-war-crimes</a></small></small></small></b><br>
</span> </div>
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<div id="file-28197" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg
media-element file-full" style="width:618px;"><br>
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<p>Israel’s latest <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/gazaunderattack">attack</a>
on <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/gaza">Gaza</a>
has now entered its fourth week; the number of Palestinians
killed is <a
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/07/gaza-un-school-hit-201473041918975321.html">nearing</a>
1,300. And the <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/palestinian-authority">Palestinian
Authority</a> still refuses to take any real action.</p>
<p>During a meeting in <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/ramallah">Ramallah</a>
this week, <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/mahmoud-abbas">Mahmoud
Abbas</a>, the PA’s president, <a
href="http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=716743">said</a>,
“The ugly and grotesque Israeli crimes against the Palestinian
people must be stopped.” He added, “We ask the world to support
us in seeking justice, and from now on we will study all our
options to reach this purpose.”</p>
<p>That is typical talk from the PA. For years now, the authority
has been studying “all our options” — without holding Israel to
account.</p>
<h2>Urgency</h2>
<p>Abbas’ statement isn’t the only thing being discussed in the
Palestinian media. Another popular news item relates to how the
PA is <a
href="http://origin.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-asked-to-boost-geneva-conventions-in-gaza/40511662">asking</a>
Switzerland to convene an international conference on respecting
international law. All signatories of the Geneva conventions
would be invited.</p>
<p>At first glance, this may appear to be an important initiative.
Yet it is really a symbolic step, rather than something that
would seriously challenge Israel’s <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/impunity">impunity</a>.</p>
<p>With the urgency of the situation in Gaza, the PA should be
thinking about more than symbolic gestures.</p>
<p>Given that Abbas has <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/jalal-abukhater/pa-parrots-israeli-claims-gaza-attack">vowed</a>
to fight Israel by means of international law, it is surely time
that the PA seeks immediate access to the <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/international-criminal-court">International
Criminal Court</a> so that Israel can be prosecuted for war
crimes.</p>
<h2>Israel is worried</h2>
<p>There are indications that the Israeli establishment is worried
by the prospect of the PA putting the occupied <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/west-bank">West Bank</a>
and Gaza under the ICC’s jurisdiction.</p>
<p>A recent <a
href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118751/how-israel-palestine-peace-deal-died">article</a>
in <em>The New Republic</em> suggests the anxiety is quite
real. Based on interviews with participants in the “peace” talks
chaired by <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/john-kerry">John
Kerry</a>, the US secretary of state, it recounts how <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/benjamin-netanyahu">Benjamin
Netanyahu</a> “froze” when an aide told him that Abbas had
“just signed 15 UN conventions.”</p>
<p>The reason for the Israeli prime minister’s anxiety, according
to <em>The New Republic</em>, was that he feared the Rome
Statute of the ICC was one of them.</p>
<h2>Nothing to lose</h2>
<p>Since “Palestine” was given “observer state status” by the UN
in 2012, the PA has been entitled to ratify the Rome Statute.
Why hasn’t it done so yet?</p>
<p>Ratification would allow the PA to sue Israel for war crimes
committed after July 2002, when the ICC formally came into
effect.</p>
<p>According to <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/human-rights-watch">Human
Rights Watch</a>, the PA <a
href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/05/08/palestine-go-international-criminal-court">could</a>
submit a declaration accepting the court’s jurisdiction starting
from any date over the past twelve years.</p>
<p>Saleem al-Saqqa, the PA’s justice minister, and Ismail Jabr,
the Gaza court public prosecutor, filed a complaint against
Israel to the ICC last week. Yet this step could prove futile,
considering that the ICC does not yet have any jurisdiction over
Gaza and the West Bank.</p>
<p>An Associated Press <a
href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/gaza-officials-accuse-israel-war-crimes-icc-24712658">article</a>
reminds us that Abbas gave several governments an assurance in
2012 that he would not seek access to the ICC.</p>
<p>In the two years since then, the “peace process” has failed
utterly. Israel has entrenched the occupation by expanding its <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/israeli-settlements">settlements</a>
in the West Bank. The people of Gaza are being subjected to an
all-out attack for the third time in less than six years.</p>
<p>The PA has nothing to lose, then, by ratifying the Rome
Statute. There is no “peace process” to value and protect.</p>
<p>With his hostility to the Palestinian “<a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/national-unity-government">national
unity government</a>” and the influence wielded by bellicose,
right-wing Israeli politicians over his government, the
likelihood of Netanyahu rushing back to negotiations with Abbas
is slim.</p>
<p>Ensuring that Israel is prosecuted has never been more vital.
The PA has ran out of excuses for its inaction.</p>
</div>
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