Palestine joins the International Criminal Court

[malaise]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/31/palestinian-president-international-criminal-court
<snip>
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has moved dramatically to join the international criminal court, setting Palestinians on a diplomatic collision course with Israel and the US.

Abbas signed the Rome treaty governing the court and 19 other international agreements on Wednesday evening following the rejection by the UN security council of a Jordanian-backed resolution calling for the end of the Israeli occupation by 2017.

At the end of 24 hours of high diplomatic tension, Abbas – under pressure from other members of the Palestinian leadership – followed through on the threat to join the ICC, which would open the way to Palestinians pursuing Israel for war crimes in the court of last resort, based in The Hague.
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Expect war crimes to be taken to the ICC

[spanone]

1. k&r...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Maybe we might join the ICC some day after we stop committing war crimes.

[malaise]

3. Every bully thinks he's above the law until the law catches up with him

There will be justice one day

Happy New Year to a genuine pacifist

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. And, to you, my friend.

[BillZBubb]

5. i wonder why the Palestinians waited so long?

Seems like they should have done this years ago.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

6. They were pressured by the U.S. not to join.

the US and Israel have "condemned" the Palestinians joining the ICC.

[Ramses]

7. Good thing

Israel wont care though. They will continue to bulldoze Palestinian land keep they in an open air prison, cut off from living like any other people.

[LittleBlue]

8. Awesome news!

Hopefully this will lead to Israel being held accountable. They've had virtually no accountability so far with the US shielding them from the world.

[another_liberal]

9. Netanyahu can't bomb this problem out of existence . . .

Though he is likely to try something like that.

[malaise]

11. Hopefully he will lose the election n/t

[another_liberal]

12. He will someday . . .

If not now, then maybe before he causes much more harm.

[countryjake]

10. I'll not be holding my breath...

after the way the ICC caved and refused to seek justice against the brutal criminals who carried out Operation Cast Lead. Don't you remember that rotten decision that they dealt Palestine back in 2012? So now the Palestinian Authority is in a better position to seek action from the court, but that still doesn't eliminate the overwhelming pressure (and undue influence) that the USA holds against the rest of the World to essentially prevent war crimes from being prosecuted.

My own government will continue to do everything possible to prevent anyone from opening that nasty (and revealing) can of worms.