(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) David Makovsky - The Palestinian move for membership in the ICC creates a whole new arena of confrontation that could play out over years. We want the parties to solve their problems, and not to lock into a villain and victim narrative that would make conflict resolution impossible. This is bad not just for the Palestinians, but also for the ICC itself. The purpose of the ICC is to deal with mass atrocities, and not serve as another politicized UN agency. If the ICC wants to be taken seriously and not be viewed like the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, which regards Israel as an obsession at a time when 200,000 Syrians have been slaughtered, it should remain true to its origins and avoid politicization by inserting itself into a complex conflict such as the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The writer, director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at The Washington Institute, presented this testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa on Feb. 4.
2015-02-05 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive