The International Criminal Court: A weapon of defence not intimidation

If the Goldstone Report, the UN fact finding mission relating to the 2009 Israeli offensive on Gaza called “Operation Cast Lead”, continued with its investigations, the massacres and war crimes that occurred in Gaza in 2012 and 2014 could have been prevented. More importantly, the lacks of investigations have also prolonged the trial of many Zionist war criminals that were responsible for committing many war crimes in Gaza.

The leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation agreed to sign the Rome Treaty in order to send Zionist war criminals to the international Criminal Court and yet, until this point the PLO’s leadership has failed to sign the treaty or take any other step to hold Israel’s war criminals accountable for their terrorist policies. The PLO leadership claims they held off signing the agreement until they received the OK from all Palestinian factions especially because of their fear that Hamas may be accused of war crimes and terrorism as well. However, the PLO is in the wrong to think this way of Hamas, they are wrong to label the Palestinian resistance as something that could potentially be viewed as terrorism because that opens the door for both Israel and America to label Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

It is common knowledge that Hamas’ demonstration of resistance is considered legitimate among the international community. The International Criminal Court is not run by Israel or America and it is also important to note that many countries refused to sign the Rome Statute out of fear that they would be held accountable for their war crimes, if any. Many members of the international community fear that they too will have to answer to “international justice”.

After the temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and after temporary negotiations began in Cairo between the Palestinian leadership and their Israeli enemies, we have begun to receive news of a political war between the PLO and how it contrasts with the steadfastness of the resistance’s delegation. It is here that it becomes important for us to dot the I’s and cross our t’s by emphasising that the Palestinian resistance is the only party that can define the terms of the ceasefire with Israel because the negotiations themselves are based on the resistance’s victory. Yet, if the PLO continues to insist that it too would like to play a role in this political war they must sign the Rome Treaty quickly and without further hesitation. They must sign the treaty if they would like to take the Zionist enemy by surprise and take them to the International Criminal Court. This is the only way that the PLO can hold Israel accountable and prevent them from waging future ground offensives on the Gaza Strip.

We know that Israel failed in its attempt to eliminate Hamas and re-occupy the Gaza Strip but we also know that they are capable of harming the women, children and elderly of Gaza. We also exonerate the majority of our people from any accusations of terrorism and violence regardless of whether they are civilians or whether they are fighters because it is the right of an occupied people to defend themselves against a foreign military occupation. They must fight with all their strength to repel the occupation and its violence. More importantly, Israel should not be a partner for negotiations in Cairo, instead Israeli war criminals should be sent to the ICC in order to be held accountable for their actions.

Translated from Felesteen newspaper, 12 August 2014

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.