ICC Prosecutor Issues Response Relating to the Court’s Jurisdiction Over Palestine [1]
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On April 30, 2020, Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), submitted a “Prosecution Response to the Observations of Amici Curiae, Legal Representatives of Victims, and States [3]” to the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I. This response follows an initial “Prosecution request pursuant to article 19(3) for a ruling on the Court’s territorial jurisdiction in Palestine [4]” (submitted in January 2020). In her initial request, Bensouda stated “[t]here is a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip (‘Gaza’ or ‘Gaza Strip’)”; however she requested a pre-trial jurisdictional ruling given the complexity of the Palestinian situation, specifically its contested territorial boundaries and statehood. In her response, she restates the arguments included in her initial request, namely that “Palestine is a State for the purposes of the Statute” (through its “accession to the Statute” and/or “under relevant principles and rules of international law”) and that the Court does have jurisdiction over it. She addresses counterarguments (e.g., the position that a state can accede to the Statute but not be subject to the Court’s jurisdiction) expressed in approximately 75 submissions from interested parties, and, in other cases, confirms her support for other participants’ stances. As an article published on JURIST [5] notes, Bensouda emphasizes that the Court can rule that it has jurisdiction within Palestine “without … [making a] determin[ation] [regarding] the disputed borders between Israel and Palestine.” In conclusion, she “respectfully requests Pre-Trial Chamber I to confirm that the ‘territory’ over which the Court may exercise its jurisdiction under article 12(2)(a) comprises the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza.”