Palestinian Statehood Poses New Danger to Israel

It is becoming increasingly clear that one of the intentions of the Palestinian Authority in seeking unilateral recognition of statehood at the United Nations is to subject Israel to further frivolous war crimes prosecutions. As this article in the Weekly Standard points out the Palestinian Authority has already requested to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the only thing holding it up is that the Palestinian Territory is not a State. Recognition at the United Nations could give the Palestinian Authority an avenue at the ICC to seek endless “prosecutions of Israeli military personnel and government officials for alleged ‘war crimes’ committed in the territory.”

In January 2009, the Palestinian Authority's minister of justice, Ali Khashan, submitted a formal declaration accepting the jurisdiction of the ICC over the "Territory of Palestine" for all alleged crimes committed since 2002. The Rome Statute governing the ICC allows for such declarations to be made by states that have not yet submitted themselves to the court's jurisdiction. The legal question the chief ICC prosecutor has been mulling over for the last two-and-a-half years is whether the PA can qualify as a "state" for this purpose. The prosecutor has yet to make a determination on the matter.

The original point of the Palestinian declaration was to create a situation wherein Israelis could be prosecuted in the ICC. Without such a declaration being recognized by the ICC (or a referral by the U.N. Security Council), the court has no jurisdiction over Israel (since Israel is not an ICC member).

Thus recognition by the UN could subject Israel to further dangerous and costly legal battles at the ICC – similar to those that resulted from the erroneous Goldstone Report – to defend its right to protect its own people from vicious attacks from terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, a partner in the Palestinian Authority.

You can read the entire article exposing this new threat to Israel and the unintended consequences that may result for the Palestinians here. You can also join the ACLJ’s efforts to defend Israel by signing the Petition to Protect Israel, Veto Creation of Terrorist-Led State.