Palestinians Join International Criminal Court, but Tread Cautiously at First

posted on: Apr 3, 2015

The Palestinians became members of the International Criminal Court on Wednesday, cementing the most significant and contentious step so far in their new strategy of seeking statehood through international forums.

Palestinians hope to use the court to bring international pressure to bear on Israel and call it to account for policies and actions that the Palestinians maintain are war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the Israeli assault on Gaza last summer and the continuing construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

However, the Palestinian leadership refrained from immediately taking the more provocative step of requesting that the court look into specific cases that may implicate Israeli officials. Instead, the Palestinians said they would wait to see the progress of a preliminary examination that the court’s prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, began in January.

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“Palestine remains one of the most important tests of the will and ability of the international community, and international institutions, to uphold universal values,” Riad al-Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, said during a 30-minute ceremony at the court in The Hague. “It is a test the world cannot afford to fail.”

Source: www.nytimes.com