Israel must be prosecuted for settlement building: Analyst
Press TV has interviewed Kamel Hawwash, vice chair for Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, in Birmingham, to discuss a Palestinian bid to file two lawsuits against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
What follows is a rough transcription.
Press TV: Israel is not a signatory to the international criminal court, but what Palestine has done in terms of filing these charges, it seems pretty evident that Israel has broken the law but at the same time is there going to be any chances of this coming into fruition in terms of levering charges against Israel?
Hawwash: well, it appears that the Palestinians are determined to take this all the way and I sincerely hope that they do unlike the situation that happened at the FIFA congress, where due proposal was suspended the last minute. If they take it all the way through, this will be the best way of trying to bring some accountability that Israel must face for its crimes and the two that you reported on were one to do with the settlement buildings… every country in the world except Israel believes Israeli settlements are illegal and therefore it should be possible to prosecute them for the war crime that is settlement building. Everyone saw what happened in Gaza and no rational person will think that what happened was anything but a serious war crime against helpless Palestinian population, and the devastation which continues to this day. So it is very much about the determination of the Palestinian people and the leadership but also about how long this process will take. The important thing is to initiate this and for Israeli war criminals to feel that maybe, just maybe they could be up in The Hague very soon.
Press TV: Well, if perhaps at another time, then maybe the present time, is Israel feeling the pinch on these illegal settlements because there is pressure that has been exerted, in particular from some European Union countries and also the fact that many countries in Europe have recognized Palestine as a state. If there was anything that would stick, I am guessing from what you said, that it would be these illegal settlements buildings.
Hawwash: It seems that that is the clearest case. Because with Gaza they will argue that they had to do what they did in self-defense, but with illegal settlements every country in the world thinks it is illegal, the United Nations thinks it is illegal; in 2004 the European Court of Justice advisory said that they were occupied territories - West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. So it is the clearest case to bring that these settlements are illegal and they must be evacuated and dismantled; it’s as simple as that.
MTM/KA
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