PNC welcomed the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court regarding extending its jurisdiction over the territories of the State of Palestine occupied since 1967.
In a press statement issued this Friday evening by the Speaker of PNC, Mr. Saleem Al-Za’anoun, said that the court decision opens the door for the International Criminal Court to initiate measures to hold Israel and its leaders responsible for committing crimes against Palestinian people and their land, indicating that the court's decisions are enforceable by the member states, which are the parties of the Rome Charter that established the International Criminal Court), while these parties are about 90 members.
The court’s decision came despite the pressure exerted on it to decline from doing so, which enabled opening investigations into the lawsuit filed by the State of Palestine against Israel and its crimes, Mr. Al-Za’anoun continued, especially the issue of prisoners, the ongoing crime of settlement, and the related crimes of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, as is happening now in Humsa Al-Foaqa village in the Palestinian Jordan Valley, in addition to the crime of aggression on Gaza Strip, which was subjected and still under an unjust Israeli siege, and accompanying crimes and suffering of Palestinian people Gaza Strip, and amounts to genocide that has affected thousands of children, women and the elderly.
PNC clarified that the court’s decision confirmed that Palestine is a member state in the Rome Charter which established the International Criminal Court, and that the court’s jurisdiction extends to the lands occupied by Israel since 1967, that is, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This would constitute a deterrent to the Israeli occupation leaders from continuing with their crimes against defenseless Palestinian people, especially the daily committed crimes, such as killing, arrest and assault on holy sites.