AFP, The Hague :
Top Palestinian officials Friday urged the world’s only permanent war crimes court to speed up a probe into allegations of Israeli abuses amid an upsurge of fresh violence between the two sides.
Meanwhile International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda urged for calm, warning that an escalation of violence could lead to “a large-scale commission of crimes” that may fall within the Hague-based court’s jurisdiction.
“It is extremely important to expedite the process… because if Israel feels impunity, what will deter Israel from multiplying the victims?” Palestinian foreign minister Riad al-Malki said.
He was speaking after handing over a new dossier to Bensouda, “making reference to the extra-judicial killings, home demolition and collective punishments.”
It also cited examples “in the last 40 days of Israeli aggression.”
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met Bensouda on Friday for the first time since the Palestinian Authority sparked controversy by joining the tribunal in January.
In recent weeks, Israel and the Palestinians have been gripped by a fresh wave of violence in which more than 60 Palestinians and nine Israelis have died.
The almost daily clashes and knife attacks have triggered fears they may herald the start of a third Palestinian uprising, or intifada.
Malki said he had handed the new “well-prepared document” to Bensouda earlier in the day.
Bensouda in return stressed the need for calm and restraint from all sides and an end to the violence.
The prosecutor “cautioned that the situation may further degenerate into a large-scale commission of crimes that may fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC,” her office said in a statement.
The Gambian-born Bensouda said her office will “also examine whether any of the newly reported incidents of violence constitute crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the ICC.”
New incidents of violence will also be recorded for the future, Bensouda added.
To Israel’s fury, the Palestinians formally asked the ICC earlier this year to investigate the Jewish state for alleged war crimes during the 2014 Gaza war.
Some 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in the 50-day war in July and August 2014, as well as 73 people on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.
Bensouda has officially opened a preliminary inquiry into whether there is sufficient evidence of crimes — by either the Palestinians or the Israelis — which would merit formal investigation.
Top Palestinian officials Friday urged the world’s only permanent war crimes court to speed up a probe into allegations of Israeli abuses amid an upsurge of fresh violence between the two sides.
Meanwhile International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda urged for calm, warning that an escalation of violence could lead to “a large-scale commission of crimes” that may fall within the Hague-based court’s jurisdiction.
“It is extremely important to expedite the process… because if Israel feels impunity, what will deter Israel from multiplying the victims?” Palestinian foreign minister Riad al-Malki said.
He was speaking after handing over a new dossier to Bensouda, “making reference to the extra-judicial killings, home demolition and collective punishments.”
It also cited examples “in the last 40 days of Israeli aggression.”
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met Bensouda on Friday for the first time since the Palestinian Authority sparked controversy by joining the tribunal in January.
In recent weeks, Israel and the Palestinians have been gripped by a fresh wave of violence in which more than 60 Palestinians and nine Israelis have died.
The almost daily clashes and knife attacks have triggered fears they may herald the start of a third Palestinian uprising, or intifada.
Malki said he had handed the new “well-prepared document” to Bensouda earlier in the day.
Bensouda in return stressed the need for calm and restraint from all sides and an end to the violence.
The prosecutor “cautioned that the situation may further degenerate into a large-scale commission of crimes that may fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC,” her office said in a statement.
The Gambian-born Bensouda said her office will “also examine whether any of the newly reported incidents of violence constitute crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the ICC.”
New incidents of violence will also be recorded for the future, Bensouda added.
To Israel’s fury, the Palestinians formally asked the ICC earlier this year to investigate the Jewish state for alleged war crimes during the 2014 Gaza war.
Some 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in the 50-day war in July and August 2014, as well as 73 people on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.
Bensouda has officially opened a preliminary inquiry into whether there is sufficient evidence of crimes — by either the Palestinians or the Israelis — which would merit formal investigation.
