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The Palestinians Go to the ICC: Policy Implications
(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) David Makovsky - PA President Mahmoud Abbas' signing of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) creates an entirely new arena for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, casting the relationship in criminal terms. The move is likely to shut down any political space for further negotiations any time soon and may move the entire discourse toward unilateralism. The PA's move is bound to face opposition across the Israeli political spectrum, while a December poll of Palestinian public opinion showed 80% approval for Abbas moving to the ICC. Signing the Rome Statute is unlikely to produce short-term Palestinian legal victories for a variety of reasons, not least because other parties will probably make countermoves. The writer is director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at The Washington Institute.