News Archive
The International Criminal Court adopts the Legal Position of a Hebron University Professor of International Law
On 2 February 2021, the International Criminal Court (ICC) adopted the legal position presented to the Court by Dr. Mutaz M. Qafisheh, Associate Professor of International Law at the College of Law and Political Science, who pleaded as a lawyer on behalf of the Palestinian Bar Association. The ICC decided that Palestine is a State and a full member of the Rome Statute that established the Court, and that it is competent to prosecute crimes committed in the Palestinian territory, namely the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. In particular, the Court agreed with Qafisheh’s argument regarding Palestine’s borders. Qafisheh argued that the Court possesses jurisdiction to investigate in Palestine without the need to draw Palestine’s borders, as borders have been already set by other international law bases, and accordingly the Court could have jurisdiction to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression. This judgment paves the way for the Prosecution to formally open investigations in the territory of Palestine after five years of preliminary examination that followed Palestine’s accession to the Rome Statute in 2015.
See the text of Qafisheh’s submission at the ICC website:
https://legal-tools.org/doc/lhp1ky/pdf/
For the Court’s decision, see:
