PA calls for ICC to investigate Israel settlement crimes

Israeli forces attack Palestinians during a protest against the construction of settlement in Ramallah, West Bank on 29 March 2019 [Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency]

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday called for the ICC to investigate continuous Israeli settlement crimes before it is too late, stating that settlements are a crime according to international law, Safa news agency reported.

In a statement, the ministry said settlement expansion at the expense of the remaining area of the Palestinian state “is a test for the UN’s credibility and its bodies, as well as to the international legitimacy and the related resolutions”.

“This expansion comes in line with remarks by a number of the Israeli officials stating that they are opposed to the return of Palestinians to the 1967 borders,” the statement added.

The PA ministry stressed that it is in contact with the ICC regarding the Israeli settlement policies, including the ongoing extension of settlement roads that led to confiscations of thousands of dunams of Palestinian lands within the 1967 borders.

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