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Why Palestine Has No Chance at the International Criminal Court
(Daily Beast) Andrew Novak - Palestine's membership in the International Criminal Court was formalized on April 1, 2015. Israel has little to fear from the ICC. The threat is overblown. First, the ICC may prosecute all parties to a conflict, and that includes Palestinian crimes. Allegations that Hamas fighters used human shields and fired unstable rockets at civilian areas, if proven, almost certainly constitute war crimes. By contrast, allegations against Israel are much more complex, and largely matters of proportion. Second, the ICC Prosecutor has always been cautious. Investigations in Afghanistan and Colombia have dragged on for years. Third, the ICC cannot arrest suspects, gather evidence, or enforce its own judgments without at least some state cooperation. Any potential prosecutions are many years away, and that's only if the parties cooperate, which seems unlikely.