RAMALLAH, May 22, 2018 (WAFA) - PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi Tuesday released a statement on Palestine‘s referral of Israel to the ICC, saying that the time has come to end Israel’s impunity.

"Today, as a State party to the Rome Statute, the State of Palestine will submit a referral regarding Israel‘s deliberate war crimes to Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda,” the statement said. 

“The referral will include Israel‘s past, present and future war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people. The violations include Israel‘s illegal settlement activities, the displacement of Palestinians, the continued demolition of Palestinian homes and structures, the unlawful killing of unarmed Palestinian demonstrators, and the mass arbitrary detention and torture of Palestinian political prisoners,” the statement added.

Ashrawi called on immediate action to open an official investigation into Israel’s war crimes, stressing that Israel’s impunity must end.

“We urge the ICC to take immediate action and investigate such widespread and flagrant war crimes. It is vital for the ICC to assume a principled and just stand and open an official, speedy and criminal investigation into Israel‘s egregious violations being committed throughout occupied Palestine.” 

“More than anything else, Israel‘s impunity must end, and it is time that the perpetrator of the crime (the occupier) is punished and not the victim (the occupied). The failure of governments worldwide, primarily the United States, to hold Israel accountable has emboldened the Israeli government to intensify its efforts to entrench the occupation and persist in acts of criminality and terror at the expense of the Palestinian people,” the statement added.

The PLO official called on international community to take responsibility to end Palestinians’ suffering.

“We call on the international community to assume its legal, human and moral responsibilities to put an end to the decades-long Palestinian suffering by guaranteeing the rights of the Palestinian people under international law and international humanitarian law.”

“We will remain undeterred in our efforts to pursue all diplomatic and legal channels to hold Israel to account at the ICC and other multinational organizations and agencies and to defend our people‘s right to self-determination, justice and freedom,” she added.

K.T./K.F.