Why sign? To say no to Israel’s ongoing crimes.

There seems to be no end to Israel’s impunity. In fact, more than 67 years have passed – since before the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 181 in 1947 calling for the partition of Palestine or the unilateral declaration of the State of Israel in 1948 – when paramilitary groups that later formed the Israeli army began carrying out armed assaults, land confiscation, destruction and massacres leading to the deportation and forced displacement of the native population. Within a few months nine cities were obliterated, 532 villages destroyed and thousands of Palestinians killed, while 900,000 were driven out from their homes and their land. Since then there has been no peace in Palestine, in spite of the numerous UN Resolutions condemning Israel’s actions and policies.

During the following decades, Israel has continued its illegal policies of racial discrimination and apartheid, of expelling Palestine’s original inhabitants and relentlessly extending its territorial possession to control of about 80% of Palestine, as opposed to the 55% assigned to it by the UN. At the same time, crimes have continued to be committed, including house demolitions; the use of systematic inhuman and degrading treatment; torture and imprisonment without charge or trial, even of minors; and ultimately with the terrible punitive attacks on Gaza.

In Gaza, during the summer of 2014, more than 2,200 people – mainly civilians – were killed, half of them were women and children; over 11,000 were wounded. Widespread destruction of property not justified by military necessity took place; civilians and civilian sites were intentionally attacked (schools, UN shelters, hospitals, ambulances, power plants, infrastructures and places of worship) and were used as human shields.

With the 2012 UN General Assembly’s decision to upgrade Palestine to “non-Member Observer State”, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was able to apply, on 31 December 2014, for accession to the Rome Treaty and the ICC. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accepted the application thereby establishing that Palestine will officially become an ICC Member State on 1 April 2015. The Court will then be able to exercise its jurisdiction with regard to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Palestinian territory regardless of the alleged perpetrators’ nationality, whether they are Israelis, Palestinians or from other countries.

The decision to join the ICC, however, is a path fraught with peril for the Palestinians. They will now have to contend with the anger of Israel, which is increasingly desperate to maintain its colonial, apartheid grasp. Israel has already put into action diplomatic/lobbying manoeuvres and threats, reaching way beyond its immediate withholding of more than $120 million in Palestinian taxes it collected on behalf of the Palestinian National Authority.

This path must therefore be given full support and encouragement, especially by ICC Member States, whose complete cooperation we now call on. Application of international law is the only means through which Israel’s impunity can be truly challenged and justice brought to Palestine.

Rete Romana di Solidarietà con il Popolo Palestinese

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First petition signatories:

Individuals

Cesare Antetomaso, Lawyer
Frank Barat, Former Coordinator of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine; President of the Palestine Legal Action Network
Mons. Hilarion Capucci, Jerusalem Emeritus Archbishop in exile
Wassim Dahmash, Arab Language and Literature Researcher & Professor, Cagliari University
Mireille Fanon-Mendes-France, UN expert
Giovanni Franzoni, Former Abbot of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Rome, and author
Domenico Gallo, Constitutional Court Judge
Fausto Giannelli, Legal expert
Giancarlo Guarino, Full Professor in International Law, Federico II University, Naples
Francesca Koch, President of the International Women’s House, Rome
Teresa Lapis, Human Rights Lawyer & Professor, University of Venice
Rania Madi, UN Geneva Consultant, Badil Resource Center
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Fabio Marcelli, Researcher at the Institute of International Law Studies, CNR
Luisa Morgantini, Former Vice-President of the European Parliament
Dario Rossi, Lawyer, Coordinator of Democratic Lawyers, Genoa
Yousef Salman, Palestinian Red Crescent Representative in Italy
Gianni Tognoni, Researcher & General Secretary Permanent People’s Tribunal
Nicola Vetrano, Laywer, Naples
Vincenzo Vita, former member of Italian Chamber of Deputies & Journalist

Networks, associations, organizations

Rete Romana di Solidarietà con il Popolo Palestinese
Rete ECO – Ebrei contro l’occupazione (ONLUS)