Legal Specialist Describes Path for Taking Israel to International Courts

The Law Department at Birzeit University held on November 29, 2016 a lecture on the progress in the Palestinian Authority's efforts to sue Israel before international criminal courts. The lecture was presented by Al Haq general director, Shawan Jabarin.

Law Department head Mustafa Abdel Baqi emphasized the importance of taking actions on all available fronts to sue Israelis for their crimes against Palestinians, taking advantage of the benefits that international law offers.

Jabarin said that the court continues to face difficult ongoing tasks and challenges that hinder the power of the court, especially its limited financial abilities and budget. Therefore, the court only pursues cases with certain selection criteria for trial.

The lecturer said that Palestinians should take gradual punitive steps against Israel. Palestinians should start by introducing the members of the International Criminal Court to Palestine, and share important information about the reality of Palestinians and the violations committed by Israel.

"We assume goodwill in the members of the court,” Jabarin said. “However, we know that there are big supporters of Israel, and two opposite approaches for dealing with the case: supporters and opponents."

According to Jabarin, there is enough documented and archived official materials about Israel's violations for Palestinians to use judiciously. He pointed out, for example, that suing Israel for the crime of colonization is much easier than the case against aggression against Gaza.