2,015 days of fear and human rights violations

On 19 December 2019, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) concluded her five-year preliminary examinationinto the Situation in Palestine, recommending that the Court proceed to an investigation, pending a ruling by the Pre Trial Chamber on the question of Court’s territorial jurisdiction over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. In the five years between 13 June 2014 and the 19 December 2019, despite the Prosecutor examining whether there was “a reasonable basis to believe” that war crimes and crimes against humanity were being committed in the occupied Palestinian territory, Israel continued its campaign of terror against the Palestinian population, targeting and killing Palestinian civilians while also escalating its illegal settlement enterprise and radical demographic manipulation by inter alia systematically revoking residencies and carrying out house demolitions, under a shield of impunity. Critically, Israel’s impending and threatened annexation of Palestinian territory, underscores the urgency of the need to hold senior politicians and military commanders criminally accountable for their policies and plans in orchestrating and facilitating with knowledge, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied Palestinian territory. 

Given Israel’s unabated and continued commission of international crimes in Palestine, it is a matter of urgency that the Pre Trial Chamber proceed to ensure the Prosecutor’s opening of an investigation into crimes committed on the territory of the State of Palestine, i.e. the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. In response to Israel’s planned unlawful annexation and acquisition of territory through use of force, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas responded through constitutional means, officially and formally absolving agreements between the State of Palestine, Israel and the United States, including the Oslo Accords. In particular, Al-Haq considers that the Oslo Accords are no longer binding on the State of Palestine, and following numerous official pronouncements by the Palestinian Authority since the 1990’s, it is clear that the Oslo Accords have fallen into desuetude.  It must be noted, that the law of belligerent occupation as the lex specialis, regulates the administration of the occupied territory in its entirety, and the Oslo Accords, regardless of their status, suspended, absolved or otherwise, in no way compromises the Court’s exercise of international criminal jurisdiction over the occupied territory, i.e the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, as elaborated in the joint amicus submission of Al-Haq, Al-Mezan, Al Dameer and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights to the Pre Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court.

Al-Haq’s latest infographic highlights certain war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel during the preliminary examination period between 13 June 2014 and 19 December 2019, from data collected between Al-Haq, B’Tselem, UN OCHA and Bimkom.  Settler attacks are almost always conducted under the protection of Israeli military forces, in many cases leading to substantial property destruction, injuries, and even killings. Israeli authorities rarely arrest or detain settlers. Israel continues to promote and fund the transfer of its citizens into occupied territory by sanctioning settlement construction and development projects on confiscated private and public land. Meanwhile, the Israeli justice system has demonstrated that it is unwilling to hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes. 

• Between 13 June 2014 and 19 December 2019, Al-Haq documented the killing of 3,119 Palestinian civilians, by the IOF. According to the Report of the detailed findings of the independent commission of inquiry established pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution S-21/1, in the fifty-day period between 13 June – 26 August 2014, 2,251 Palestinians were killed, 18,000 housing units were destroyed, 73 medical facilities and ambulances were damaged, more than 1,500 Palestinian children were orphaned, and over 11, 000 were injured during the Israeli attacks on Gaza over the course of its military offensive.[1]
• Between 13 June 2014 – 19 December 2019, Al-Haq documented 1,115 house demolitions in occupied Palestinian territory.[2]
• Between 1 January 2014 – 31 December 2019, Bimkom documented 440 government sanctioned settlement plans.[3]
• Between 1 January 2014 – 31 December 2018, B’Tselem documented 434 residency revocations in occupied East Jerusalem.[4]
• Between 1 January 2017 – 31 December 2019, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented 2,307 settler attacks resulting in 9 Palestinian killings and 350 Palestinian injuries.[5]

Accordingly, the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel since 13 June 2014 to present and must proceed to investigation.

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