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Palestinians file claim with ICC against Israel’s razing of West Bank village
Claim filed with international criminal court over plans to destroy the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar
The Palestinians’ chief peace negotiator filed a claim on behalf of the Palestinian leadership with the International Criminal Court in The Hague over Israel’s plans to raze a West Bank Bedouin village.
The claim filed Tuesday called the decision to demolish Khan al-Ahmar, located outside of Jerusalem near Maale Adumim, as early as this week a “war crime.”
“We call on the International Criminal Court to expedite the opening of the investigation into Israel’s crimes,” Saeb Erekat told reporters in Ramallah on Tuesday.
The Trump administration linked the U.S. closure of the PLO office in Washington, D.C., to “Palestinian attempts to prompt an investigation of Israel by the International Criminal Court.”
Dr. Erekat: a submission on the case of #KhanAlAhmar was delivered to the #InternationalCriminalCourt this morning urging Madam Bensouda to meet with the council of Khan Al-Ahmar… and we hope that an official judicial investigation can be opened as soon as possible. #Palestine pic.twitter.com/hJNo9lAJMH
— Palestine PLO-NAD (@nadplo) September 11, 2018
Erekat, the secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee, said that the claim about Khan al-Ahmar is not a new petition, but an addition to the case against Israeli settlements in the West Bank that was filed in May with the ICC on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, according to Haaretz.
The petition “included a focus on the war crimes facing Khan al-Ahmar, specifically the crimes of forcible displacement, ethnic cleansing and the destruction of civilian property,” Erekat told reporters.
Israel’s Supreme Court last week rejected a petition by village residents to halt the demolition. An injunction against the demolition expired on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court had authorised the demolition in May, since the homes were built without permits. The July injunction called on the state to review a compromise offer drawn up by the locals that would legalise the village.
Critics of the demolition believe that Israel is tearing down the village in order to make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible. The international community and human rights organisations have rallied in support of the village.
On Monday, White House National Security Adviser John Bolton called the International Criminal Court an “illegitimate court” in a speech to the Federalist Society in Washington, D.C.
“If the court comes after us, Israel or other US allies, we will not sit quietly,” he said.
Bolton called the ICC “ineffective, unaccountable, and indeed, outright dangerous,” and said that the court “is already dead to us.”
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