Abbas seems not serious in ICC case

The Palestinian Authority has filed for accession to the International Criminal Court (ICC), a move that was harshly rejected by the Zionist regime. The ICC accession would pit the two sides in a legal battle that has its own complexities.

As a start, the Palestinians need to recall every legal resources and potential inside and outside the Palestinian territories. They must also resolve their internal discord under the national unity government initiative before taking on any legal battle so that they could set up a solid defense in any ICC session.

Internal schism between Hamas and Fatah would prove more harmful for the Palestinians than the influence of Israel lobby in international bodies; the PA may treat the case of Gaza with laxity and bias due to its differences with Hamas which runs Gaza.

Another point of note is that in order to condemn the Zionist regime for committing war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza, the Palestinians must first prove that the two areas are deemed occupied under international law. The notion has been approved in the UN resolutions 242 and 338. The Palestinian Authority thus has suffered a setback by removing any mention of the two resolutions in its draft resolution that was failed to be passed in a UNSC session last month.

The legal necessity also applies to the settlement issue so that the PA authorities may also fail to secure the condemnation of the regime over settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.

One more thing to note is that the PA head Mahmoud Abbas claims to be pursuing the Israeli war crimes in a serious manner however he has yet to suspend his security cooperation with the Zionist regime. Abbas appears not to be serious then.