A French lawyer says there are still legal channels to prosecute Israel for its war crimes in Gaza at the International Criminal Court (ICC) after Palestine’s initial case was rejected last week, Press TV reports.
Gilles Devers had filed a case at the ICC on behalf of Palestine in late July following Israel’s attacks on Gaza, but the case has been rejected.
“The Foreign Minister of Palestine Mr. [Riyad] al-Maliki went to The Hague and then I learned that the case was rejected. The court’s prosecutor said she decided to reject the case, because Palestine has not signed the Rome Statute and therefore cannot file a case,” Devers said in an exclusive interview with Press TV.
The Rome Statute, adopted on July 17, 1998, established the ICC and entered into force on July 1, 2002.
“The court’s prosecutor said that the 2009 Declaration of Competency was no longer valid, because between then and now Palestine has become a non-member observer state at the United Nations,” Devers said, adding, “Several professors of law have said this has no connection with the case filed by the Palestinians in July. The ICC is independent after all. Therefore, we are going to launch a fresh procedure, asking the prosecutor to work with the Palestinian minister of justice.”
The lawyer noted that the Palestinian case has gathered even more strength on two main issues over the past two months.
“Firstly, as the latest events of June and July this year show civilians were the main targets of attacks and the indiscriminate killings have had terrible effects on civilians…. We all know that the Israeli army which came to attack the tunnels has destroyed vast infrastructures and 85 percent of the victims in Gaza are civilians. Ninety-five percent of Israeli losses are military losses. This shows the imbalance,” he said.
“The Second point is that the military operation has been conducted with the aim of colonization and it used the method of blockade. The ICC defines both colonization and blockade as war crimes,” Devers pointed out.
The lawyer expressed confidence that sooner or later the ICC will have to judge Israel’s war crimes in Gaza.
Israel launched the latest war against the blockaded Gaza Strip on July 8. More than 1,940 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have lost their lives and nearly 10,000 have been wounded in the Israeli military attacks. Hamas says more than 150 Israelis have been killed in the conflict.
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Watch the video at PressTV website
For who does not understand the need or concept of resistance of Palestine, recommended read:
The History of Resistance – The Eagle of Palestine
- Special Topic – All Israeli Massacres on Palestinians
- iRemember… – Confirmed Names of Martyrs Occupation (*)
- Special Topic – Ethnic Cleansing
- Israeli escalation in Gaza – A cover-up for settlement activity
- “Slow Death” -International report: Collective punishment of Gaza has reached critical stage – Incl Full Report PDF
- A “Leaflet” to the World about it’s own “forgotten” Extermination Camp called Gaza
- Gaza Siege Harshness Continues. Israel’s committing slow-motion genocide ~ by Stephen Lendman
THE LEGAL RIGHT OF RESISTANCE
Is Resisting Genocide a Human Right?
81 Notre Dame Law Review1275(2006). Conducting an in-depth study of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and also discussing other genocides, this article details the inadequacy of many of the international community’s response to genocides, such as “targeted sanctions” or international peacekeeping forces. Examining international legal authorities such as the Genocide Convention, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Court of Justice, the article demonstrates that groups which are being subjected to genocide have a legal right of self-defense. International treaties, Security Council arms embargoes, or national gun control laws cannot lawfully be enforced in a manner which prevents self-defense resistance to a genocide in progress, because under international law, the prohibition against any form of complicity in genocide takes legal precedence over lesser laws. With Paul Gallant & Joanne D. Eisen. In PDF.
http://www.davekopel.com/2a/Foreign/genocide.pdf
- The Palestinian Right of Self Defense
- Brayer: The Absolute Right of Palestinian Resistance – Source
- No. Israel Does Not Have the Right to Self-Defense In International Law Against Occupied Palestinian Territory – Source
- If Jews in WWII Warsaw would have had rockets: They would have fired them too – by occpal
MYTHS & FACTS ABOUT THE ROCKETS FROM GAZA
- The “Rocket” from Gaza Myth – Photography
- More facts about the Rocket from Gaza Myths – Storify
- Half the story: What @IDFSpokesperson leaves out about #Gaza ~ by @yousefmunayyer
- Israel and #Gaza: Context Behind Projectile Fire ~ by @yousefmunayyer
- Truths and lies behind Israel’s attacks on Gaza and its whining about rockets ~ by @AliAbunimah
- Israel is not looking for peace. Nor talks. But: This
* The list of shuhada does not display, the numerous victims of the zionist occupation which are undocumented by media. Nor it displays the victims of the “silent onslaught” due to restrictions of movement, ability to go to hospitals for treatment or life saving surgery, due to lack of medication because of the blockades and so on. For example: The Slow Motion Genocide by the Siege on Gaza only, killed 600 patients since Gaza got under Israeli Siege.
For an overview of All Israeli Massacres Palestinians go here
Neither does this list, display the avoidable mortality. A clear and statistical factual evidence, about the number of deaths due to indecent ruling by occupation forces. For even an occupier has obligations under International Laws, Geneva Convention and the Hague regulations, which it is neglecting. These circumstances, together with deliberate policies of the occupier to neglect and even deny every basic human right, severes avoidable mortality which is totally silenced by media or reporting organisations. While in the Holocaust, 1 on 6 Jewish people directly died of deliberate neglect, so if we believe the facts over 1 million due to avoidable mortality, neither should these same circumstances be ignores which are ongoing in Palestine. For this report displays a avoidable morality of at least 0,5 million Palestinians.
How many more dead corpses of Palestinians does the international community need to see in order to act? How many more cruelties and violations of Human Rights, Regulations and International Law will be needed to intervene so this ongoing warcrime is being stopped once and for all.
Source Article from http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/gazaunderattack-lawyer-palestine-can-still-sue-israel-at-icc/