Real action must be taken against Israel: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Saad Nimer, a professor of political science at Birzeit University, in Ramallah, to discuss the Palestinians’ efforts for bringing war crime charges against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

This is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: If chances are given to this to actually bear any results, this would be the right time; Palestine becoming a member of the ICC. The EU countries, in particular, have… recognized Palestine and [are] very much against these illegal settlement activities. Do you think that there is going to be any type of prosecution against Israel?

Nimer: First of all, good evening. I think that we are now – after the last war on Gaza – entering a new phase in the relationship between the Palestinian and Israelis and the conflict generally speaking. I think the Palestinians now are in a position to go internationally and to bring the attention to the Palestinian question to the international level.

Joining the ICC on the one hand and holding cases now against Israel on the other hand is absolutely a great achievement especially when we talk about the issue of settlements, which there is a kind of international condemnation to the settlements and especially with the EU taking measures against Israel also in this respect. I believe that we will go to the ICC court shortly in these cases, especially the war on Gaza and the issue of settlements, and it is more likely that they will be a ruling against Israel in this respect.

Now, the question is not that the ICC is going to take such a decision against Israel and to condemn settlements and to consider it illegal and to consider that Israel was very brutal in the war on Gaza and that it elevate to the level of war crimes but the question is what the international community is going to do with these decisions.

They will remain decisions in the international court without any effect on the ground that won’t make to Israel any difference because, up to this moment, Israel is playing the role of being above the international law and this is the big problem that we have.

Now we need to urge all the international community, especially the Europeans, to take action, to take measures on the ground really to put an end to the Israeli occupation and to put pressure, a real pressure, on Israel, like economic boycott or not giving them privilege in the EU or whatever kind of decisions that will match the ICC decision.

But, defiantly, we have an earlier decision by the ICC regarding the wall, which was considered illegal, and they considered also all the actions of the occupation are illegal, including the settlements; but nothing happened; it remained as an ICC court ruling or judging without any effect on the ground.

HRM/HJL

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