AMMAN — The
Jordan Bar Association (JBA) plans to lodge a complaint against Israel for
alleged “war crimes’’ at the International Criminal Court (ICC), the association’s
chief said.
اضافة اعلان
Mazen Irshaidat said in a statement that the
complaint will be filed with the court through the Arab Lawyers Union (ALU), a
Non-Governmental Organization based in Egypt.
“
Zionist Israel should be held responsible for its
crimes against the Palestinian people,” he said in a statement, chastising the
“assassination” of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was
shot dead while covering Israel’s raid on the West Bank town of Jenin last
week.
The
ICC is an international
tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent
international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for
international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the
crime of aggression. However, the court has no jurisdiction over certain
countries, like Israel.
Lawyer Mohammad Maharmeh told
Jordan News that the complaint is unlikely to carry much weight. “No criminal or judicial investigation
by this court can take place in Israel, and any verdict will have no effect on
it,’’ he explained.
Although several Israeli officials were convicted in
European courts ‘’of no less than 5,200 criminal rulings’’, none of them have
been implemented because European courts have no jurisdiction in Israel.
Political analyst
Labib Kamhawi said JBA’s stance
was in sharp contrast to the ‘’non-position’’ adopted by the Jordanian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, which did not refer to Israel’s evident complicity in Abu
Akleh’s killing.
Kamhawi said the varying positions may not culminate
in a tangible outcome. However, he added, that it reflects the sentiments of
the Jordanian people towards “what is happening in
Palestine and this is an
honorable stand for the Jordanian legal body to undertake’’.
Hasan Al Momani, a professor of international
studies at the
University of Jordan, Said the JBA has always played a political role,
influenced by different political currents. This time, he pointed out, it
reflected public anger ‘’Israel’s violations’’.
Momani said Israel’s violations necessitate serious
moves, including action by the
UN Security Council. Nevertheless, he pointed
out that America’s attitude in regards to Israel is clear. ‘’It will oppose the
transfer of any case against Israel to the ICC,’’ he said.
He said Jordan’s government is unlikely to take any
serious moves because it ‘’is aware of the heavy political cost this matter
will bear on its relations’’ with both Israel and the US.
Irshaidat, JBA’s president, told
Jordan News that the first step is for the Palestinian side to present evidence and
documents implicating Israel in Abu Akleh’s shooting so that it would be
presented to the ICC prosecutor.
He said ALU is pursuing the matter.
ALU is a member of
UNESCO, the Human Rights Organization, and other renowned
international bodies.
Irshaidat said many complaints were lodged against
Israel with the ICC, but it was later found that Israel was not a member of the
court, thus no action was taken against it. He pointed out that ALU is
contemplating to lodge complaints against Israeli government officials, such as
the premier, defense and interior ministers chief of staff, and others.
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