Can Trump force the PA to drop the ICC suit to take over Gaza?
میدل-ایست-آی - 1404-07-09 18:16:49
Can Trump force the PA to drop the ICC suit to take over Gaza?
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the Palestinian Authority (PA) must implement "reforms" as prerequisites for running post-war Gaza, including ending cases against his country at international courts.
But it is doubtful that the PA has the authority to end existing cases, or to stop Palestinian human rights advocates from continuing to seek justice for victims of atrocities at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ).
At a White House news conference with US President Donald Trump on Monday, in which the latter presented his 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan, Netanyahu emphasised that the PA should not have any role in taking over the Palestinian enclave until a number of conditions are met.
Trump’s plan envisions Gaza becoming a demilitarised, “deradicalised terror-free zone” under a transitional technocratic Palestinian committee with international oversight by a board, chaired by Trump himself, until the PA is ready to govern.
“I appreciate your firm position that the PA could have no role whatsoever in Gaza without undergoing a radical and genuine transformation,” Netanyahu said, adding that included "ending lawfare against Israel at the ICC, the ICJ".
'We will not cease to take lawful action at the international level to hold [Israel] accountable'
- Senior Palestinian diplomat
However, a senior Palestinian diplomat denied to Middle East Eye that the PA would ever end its efforts to pursue accountability for alleged Israeli crimes internationally.
“It’s not something that could ever be on the table,” he said, explaining that the PA cannot withdraw the existing case at the ICC and nor does it have authority to end ongoing cases at the ICJ.
“What we are doing is continuing to cooperate with international bodies and to pursue further accountability steps in relation to Israel’s illegal conduct in the occupied Palestinian territory,” the diplomat told Middle East Eye, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press about this matter.
“That will never stop, because as long as Israel continues its occupation, commits violations against the Palestinian people and denies their rights, we will not cease to take lawful action at the international level to hold it accountable.”
Can ICJ cases be stopped by the PA?
The past two years have witnessed several cases brought against Israel at international courts in The Hague in connection with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in occupied Palestine. Not all of these cases were brought by the PA.
The earliest effort was South Africa’s case at the ICJ in December 2023, when it accused Israel's conduct in Gaza of breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Palestine is not a party to this case, however, and is therefore unable to bring the case to an end, as Netanyahu intimated.
Additionally, South Africa’s case has not been the sole legal development at the ICJ related to Israel’s alleged international law violations.
In July 2024, the court, which is the UN’s principal judicial organ, issued a landmark advisory opinion declaring Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem unlawful.
That was based on a UN General Assembly resolution in December 2022 requesting an advisory opinion from the ICJ on the legal consequences of Israel’s policies and practices in occupied Palestine.
Then, in April 2025, the ICJ heard another advisory opinion case brought by the UN General Assembly after lobbying by Norway, in which the court had been asked to rule on the illegality of Israel’s conduct towards the UN and humanitarian organisations.
The case was prompted by Israel banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, in October 2024, an event that sparked global outrage and calls for Israel to be ejected from the United Nations due to accusations that it violated its founding charter.
Around 40 states participated in the case and most of them, with the exception of the US and Hungary, argued that Israel’s conduct towards Unrwa and other humanitarian actors violated international law.
Notably, Israel’s allies, including the UK and France, also argued that it breached international law in occupied Palestine.
It is expected that the court will issue an advisory opinion on this case later this year. Again, Palestine has no authority to halt the court from issuing its decision.
What will happen at the ICC?
At the ICC, Israel has been facing separate proceedings, related to the war crimes investigation launched in 2021 by its former chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.
The ICC is the world’s only permanent international court with the power to prosecute senior officials for international crimes.
'We have no right to forget or forgive'
- Raji Sourani, ICC and ICJ lawyer
In November, ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his then defence minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, with the central charge of using starvation as a weapon of war.
The State of Palestine acceded to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty, on 2 January 2015. In May 2018, the PA referred the situation to the prosecutor, which prompted Bensouda to formally launch her investigation, albeit three years later.
But the PA is not the only ICC member that initiated referrals against Israel. Other states have filed their own referrals since November 2023, including South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros, Djibouti, Chile and Mexico, amidst the international outrage at Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Triestino Mariniello, an international lawyer who represents Palestine at the ICC, said the PA has no authority to cease the case.
“It’s not in the competence of the PA to drop the ICC case,” he told Middle East Eye.
And even if Palestine withdraws from the Rome Statute, the case can still go ahead, he explained.
Raji Sourani, a prominent Palestinian lawyer who represents Palestine at the ICC and ICJ, said that Palestinian human rights advocates like him will not be deterred by Netanyahu’s threats.
Sourani’s Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Gaza’s oldest human rights organisation, was among Palestinian NGOs sanctioned by the Trump administration in July over their cooperation with the ICC and ICJ.
He told Middle East Eye that his organisation will keep working to seek justice for Palestinian victims of human rights abuses, no matter the cost.
“As lawyers representing the victims, our only interest is their right to justice, redress and dignity by holding accountable those who committed these crimes. We have no right to forget or forgive,” he said.
“The Palestinian Authority has no authority over us as lawyers or as a human rights organisation to prevent us from carrying out our work independently,” Sourani added.
“Those who intimidate, threaten, and sanction judges, lawyers, prosecutors, or human rights organisations defending victims of genocide are choosing the rule of the jungle. That is a deep shame on them.”
