Preliminary inquiry to determine if findings merit full investigation. PHOTO: AFP
Fatou Bensouda said her office would conduct its “analysis in full independence and impartiality”.
Her decision comes after Palestine formally joined the ICC earlier this month allowing it to lodge war crimes and crimes against humanity complaints against Israel as of April.
At the same time, the Palestinians also recognised the ICC’s jurisdiction retroactively, to cover the period during last summer’s war in Gaza that killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians and 73 Israelis.
“A preliminary examination is not an investigation but 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 a (full) investigation,” Bensouda said.
Depending on her findings, Bensouda will decide at a later stage whether to launch or quash the investigation, based on the initial probe.
Palestine’s move to join the ICC is also seen as part of a shift in strategy to internationalise its campaign for statehood and move away from the stalled US-led peace process.
Both Israel and the US have condemned the plan, with Washington calling it “counterproductive”.
The ICC, the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal, is the court of last resort for its 122 member states, aiming to hold the powerful accountable for the most heinous crimes when national authorities are unable or unwilling to act.
Israel reacted swiftly on Friday, slamming the announcement. The sole purpose of the preliminary examination is to “try to harm Israel’s right to defend itself from terror”, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al Malki welcomed the move.
“Everything is going according to plan, no state and nobody can now stop this action we requested,” he told AFP. “In the end, a full investigation will follow the preliminary one.”
Rights group Amnesty International welcomed the ICC’s announcement saying it “could pave the way for thousands of victims of crimes under international law to gain access to justice.”
Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2015.
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The U.S. is not a member of the Int'l Criminal Court (ITC), which precludes the ITC from investigating U.S.war crimes. Now the U.S. blames the ITC for investigating Israel's war crimes. The reason? The U.S. and Israel are the two top civilian killing military machines in Middle East wars, and they don't want any independence scrutiny into their war tactics.
A U.N Tribunal into the 2011 Israel war on Gaza confirmed that Israel had committed War Crimes. Worse yet for Israel, that U.N. Commission was presided by Richard Goldstone, a Jew, and the Israelis could not blame that commission of being anti Semitic! Now the U.S. and Israel worry what backlash the ITC investigation would have into Israeli war tactics, which would also reflect to the similar U.S. war tactics in Middle East and Afghanistan! Nikos Retsos, retired professor, USA