MADRID — In a move that could inject a new international actor into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the International Criminal Court will examine requests to investigate alleged war crimes during the recent combat in the Gaza Strip, its chief prosecutor said Wednesday.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the Netherlands-based court, said he had decided to consider an investigation after the Palestinian Authority accepted the jurisdiction of the court last week.
Now his prosecutors must analyze three questions, he said: whether the Palestinian Authority has legal power to recognize the court's authority, whether war crimes occurred, and whether the governments involved conduct genuine investigations.
"Each legal area is complicated," Moreno-Ocampo said in a telephone interview from The Hague. "We move when we are completely sure. Our contribution is impartiality. We will consider this carefully and thoroughly."
The court has received 210 requests from organizations and individuals regarding the recent fighting between Israel and the Hamas militant group. Many claims accuse Israel of offenses such as violence against civilians and illegal use of phosphorus shells. But groups such as Human Rights Watch have also called for an investigation of Hamas' rocket attacks on Israeli towns and its alleged use of Palestinian civilians as human shields.
The prosecutor's review could take years and faces legal and political obstacles. The court can investigate only in nations that accept its mandate, and most international bodies do not consider the Palestinian Authority to be a sovereign state.
"The ICC charter is adhered to by sovereign states, and the Palestinian Authority has not yet been recognized as one, so it cannot be a member," said Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry. "It doesn't mean anything except that it's a good propaganda stunt."
Nonetheless, the court's review could have symbolic and concrete repercussions.
Israel could try to head off the investigation with its own comprehensive probe, said Yuval Shany, a professor of international law at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "It will create greater pressures inside Israel to conduct a serious investigation," Shany said. "The fact that it has not been dismissed offhand by the court could prove to be significant."
