The Palestinians are again trying to use the International Criminal Court to do their bidding, demanding that the ICC investigate Israel for alleged “war crimes.”
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Sunday claimed it would submit requests to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate what it termed Israel’s “settlement activities” in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, and to the United Nations (UN) to inspect Israel’s nuclear facilities, the official Palestinian WAFA news agency reported Monday.
According to a statement issued at the conclusion of a meeting of the PLO’s Executive Committee, chaired by Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinians are accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing and racial segregation,” which it claims are considered “war crimes” that should be investigated by the ICC.
The PLO said Israel’s “settlement expansion,” which it described as “an aggression,” is going to create “a system of discrimination and racial segregation.”
It accused Israel of carrying out what it described as “silent ethnic cleansing” in Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley, areas south of Hebron and other districts.
The PLO announced it has decided “to refer the file of settlements as a war crime and the file of ethnic cleansing, discrimination and apartheid” to the ICC with an “urgent appeal to open a judicial investigation into the war crimes committed by the State of Israel.”
The PLO also called on the UN to inspect Israel’s nuclear facilities.
The Palestinians further called on the UN to “provide protection to the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation,” asserting that the international community and the UN in particular “cannot continue with its double standard policy and not implement international law and UN resolutions when it comes to Israel.”
The Palestinians previously demanded that the ICC launch a war crimes probe against Israel, but have failed to jump-start the process.
Over the past few years, the PA has utilized the ICC as an arena in which to attack Israel’s legitimacy and besmirch it on a global stage.
Such moves are part of the PA’s diplomatic campaign against Israel, which involves utilizing international forums, such as the ICC, as a platform for that purpose.
The US has threatened to penalize the PA for these belligerent moves, including the option to cut funding.
[yatar]
