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Why the ICC Won't Investigate Violence in Palestine Any Time Soon
(Quartz-Defense One) Kevin Jon Heller - People seem to think that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is somehow eager to leap into the most politicized conflict of the modern era. But I don't think we take the ICC's institutional interests into account nearly enough when we prognosticate about what it might do. Why would the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) spend its limited resources on the Palestine situation, as opposed to all the other non-African situations it has been monitoring for years? Public pronouncements notwithstanding, the OTP has shown very little desire to wade into situations where major superpowers are watching their behavior. In Afghanistan, where the U.S. is potentially subject to the Court's jurisdiction, the preliminary examination is now in its eighth year. In Georgia, where Russia is obviously sitting on the sidelines, the preliminary examination is now in its sixth year. So the OTP knows full well how to slow-walk a preliminary examination into oblivion. What would happen if the OTP did open a formal investigation? There are a number of reasons to suspect that a formal investigation would not turn out as well for the Palestinians as many people think. Most obviously, Hamas' deliberate rocket attacks on [Israeli] civilians would be the easiest of all the crimes to prove in terms of its legal elements and evidentiary considerations. The writer is a professor of criminal law at SOAS, University of London.