Palestinians see ICC membership as UN statehood stepping stone
There may be no State of Palestine on modern maps of the Middle East, but as of this April, there will be a new member of the International Criminal Court.... known as Palestine.
Membership in the I.C.C. was just confirmed this week by the U.N.Secretary General. It means Palestinians will be able to pursue war-crime charges against Israel. It also means they they too could be subject to war crime charges.
But most importantly to many, inclusion in the I.C.C. is just the latest move to build international recognition of a Palestinian State. Palestinian President Mahmouad Abbas made the move to join the court just one day after his latest bid for Statehood was rejected by the U.N. Security Council. The resolution would have set a three-year deadline for establishing a Palestinian state.
And for its part, Israel is not impressed with the Palestinian's entry to the I.C.C. -- Israel has frozen the transfer of more than 100-million dollars in tax funds in retaliation.
The U.S. has also reacted negatively. Yesterday the State Department said Palestinian Membership in the I.C.C. isn't possible, because Palestine is not a state.
This ongoing Palestinian strategy of pursuing statehood through membership in International groups like the court has been consistently criticized by Israel, the U.S. and Canada. But there are others, who say this could be a turning point for the Palestinians.
But there are others, including our guest, who say this could be a turning point for the Palestinians. Dr. Mustafa Barghouti is Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. He was one of the first Palestinian leaders to introduce the idea of seeking statehood. He was in Ramallah.
Some experts in International Law say there is a case to recognize a Palestinian state.
Mark Ellis is the Executive Director of the International Bar Association. He was in London, England.
For all the momentum that does seem to be gathering behind the idea of recognizing a Palestinian state, there are some countries still very much opposed to the idea of the Palestinians seeking statehood unilaterally. That list includes Israel and the United States, as well as Canada and Australia. And the United States, of course, has a vote -- and veto power -- on the U.N. Security Council.
To hear some of the concerns raised by opponents we were joined by Jonathan Schanzer. He is Vice President for Research at the Washington Based think-tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He's also the author of "State of Failure: Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Unmaking of the Palestinian State". Jonathan Schanzer was in Washington.
This segment was produced by The Current's Kristin Nelson and Sarah Grant.