Palestine National Council (PNC) said that the announcement by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, that her office had begun to conduct an investigation related to the situation in Palestine is the beginning of the initiation of justice for Palestinian people, martyrs, prisoners, and detainees.
In a statement issued this evening, Wednesday, PNC added that this decision constitutes a developed stage in the path of international legal accountability for Israel, and a remarkable victory for Palestinian diplomacy, expressing the hope that this will act as a deterrent to the Israeli occupation from continuing its crimes and terror.
This decision is the first practical step towards achieving justice by punishing the Israeli war criminals who persist in their daily crimes against our people and our land, PNC clarified.
PNC affirmed that this decision comes at a time when the crimes of the Israeli occupation and settlers intensify in practicing the policy of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people and the land, including demolishing homes, confiscating lands, building settlements, storming holy sites, arresting Palestinians all over time, and killing innocent people in cold blood.
PNC urged the International Criminal Court to start real investigation on the ground, to cover all the ongoing Israeli crimes that fall within the jurisdiction of the court (settlement, aggression on Gaza Strip, prisoners and detainees), despite Israel's stand refusing to open an investigation of these crimes that do not lapse over the time or obsolescence.
The time has come to prosecute, question and punish the perpetrators of the crimes, PNC continued, including the Israeli political and military leaders, and the Israeli settler terrorist organizations, such as the "Paying the Price," The Hills Youth, and "The New Guard" which wreaked murder, terror and theft of the human beings and the occupied Palestinian land, burning Palestinian farms, and intimidate the defenseless Palestinian citizens.