ICC Urges Palestinians to Share Info on Israeli War Crimes

The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced it would begin the pretrial phase of the war crimes preliminary examination brought by the Palestinian Authority (PA) against Israel.

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The order is pushing “to establish, as soon as practicable, a system of public information and outreach activities for the benefit of the victims and affected communities in the situation in Palestine.”

The court's 11-page release also urges for the education of Palestinians about the ICC's role in the case as well as the court's establishing “a system of public information and outreach activities for the benefit of the victims and affected communities in the situation in Palestine and report back to the Chamber in compliance with the principles established in the present decision.”

The ICC said in an email to teleSUR, that a preliminary examination is a process of examining the information available in order to reach a fully informed determination on whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation pursuant to the criteria established by the Rome Statute. The Office conducts its analysis in full independence and impartiality.

This is the first time the court has issued an order for outreach at the earliest stages of the process, and before a decision has been reached by the ICC Prosecutor to open a formal investigation.

Palestinian victims are being asked to come forward and share information about their suffering to The Hague as part of the pre-trial phase media reports say. According to the ICC such statements are made through legal representation of the victims. The recent eight-week Great March of Return Gaza border protest resulted in some 130 Palestinians being killed.

A three-judge panel with Peter Kovacs (presiding judge), Marc Perrin de Brichambaut and Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini-Gansou have been appointed to lead the preliminary examination.

The ICC pre-trial announcement detailed that the PA made a filing at the end of May, asking the court to examine current Israeli violations of international law.

Late last year, a number of Palestinian groups submitted a 700-page communique to the ICC, detailing evidence of Israel’s complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity.

However, the case was initially filed in 2015.