Date:
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
NGO seeks to prosecute three PA heads, pushes for their arrests,
following Abbas’s move to join International Criminal Court
BY AVI LEWIS January 5, 2015, 5:09 pm| The Times of Isreal|
Israeli legal group Shurat HaDin, the Israel Law Center, filed lawsuits on Monday at the
International Criminal Court (ICC) against three Palestinian Authority leaders for alleged war
crimes, terrorism and human rights offenses, following PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s
move last week to join the court and seek to prosecute Israel.
Indictments were brought against PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, Abbas’s deputy; minister
Jibril Rajoub; and PA intelligence chief Majed Faraj, all of whom belong to Abbas’s Fatah party.
The NGO is also pursuing existing litigation filed against Abbas last November, as well as a case
against Gazabased terror group Hamas and its leader Khaled Mashaal, filed at the ICC on
September 2014.
According to Shurat HaDin, during the 2014 IsraelGaza conflict “Fatah openly boasted in
Facebook pages and other media channels that it launched projectiles that caused the injury and
death of Israeli civilians — a war crime under international law.”
The NGO pressed The Hague to issue international arrest warrants for the three pending litigation.
Shurat HaDin’s chairwoman and founder, attorney Nitsana DarshanLeitner, said that the
organization will make it as difficult as possible for Palestinian leaders at the ICC, and that they
must be held accountable for crimes committed under their supervision.
“Abbas and his friends in terror organizations believe that the courts can be used as a weapon
against Israel, while at the same time, the Palestinian leadership carries out crimes with utter
impunity against their own people and against Israeli civilians,” DarshanLeitner said.
The case brought against Faraj and Hamdallah details widespread torture and killings of
Palestinian residents who reside in areas under PA control, according to a statement released by
the group.
“Faraj and Hamdallah, as commanders in the Palestinian security services, are directly
responsible for widespread human rights violations committed [in the West Bank] against regular
Palestinians by units under their authority,” the statement read.
According to the indictment, Rajoub, too, was fully aware of the violations it listed and should be
held “accountable for the actions committed under his auspices by his subordinates in the
organization,” the statement read.
The ICC can prosecute individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes
committed since July 1, 2002, when the court’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, came into
force.
“The PA and Hamas have to understand that the International Criminal Court is a doubleedged
sword,” DarshanLeitner said. “Years of murder, acts of terrorism and incitement will now be
brought before prosecutors for investigation.”
On Saturday Israel froze NIS 500 million ($127 million) in Palestinian tax revenues collected on
Ramallah’s behalf, in response to the ICC membership request.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Palestinians leaders were the ones who should be
prosecuted in the ICC over their unification with rival faction Hamas.
“It is the Palestinian Authority leaders – who have allied with the war criminals of Hamas – who
must be called to account,” he said. “IDF soldiers will continue to protect the State of Israel with
determination and strength, and just as they are protecting us we will protect them, with the same
determination and strength.”
On Thursday, Abbas asked the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel for war crimes
allegedly committed during the 50day war with Hamas and other Gaza terror groups last summer.
Israel lost 66 soldiers and seven civilians in the monthlong conflict, while the Palestinian death toll
surpassed 2,100, according to Hamas officials in Gaza. Israel said half of the Gaza dead were
gunmen and blamed Hamas for civilian deaths because it operated from residential areas, placing
Gazans in harm’s way.