http://www.maannews.net
02/01/2015

Erekat: Palestine to become ICC member by March

Palestinian Authority chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said during an interview on Friday that Palestine would become a member of the International Criminal Court by March.

The statements, which come after days of heavy criticism of the PA for the failure to pass a UN resolution on Palestine statehood, came during a live interview on the Lebanese channel al-Mayadeen.

Erekat also said that the Palestinian leadership knew the UN Palestine statehood resolution would fail but insisted anyways in order to send a message to Washington.

"Washington knew that if it worked to ensure the rejection of the resolution, we would sign (letters) to join international organizations and that is what happened," he said, pointing out that President Abbas had signed accession letters for nearly two dozen treaties including the International Criminal Court.

The resolution would have set a 2017 deadline for the end of the Israeli occupation and called for Palestinian statehood.

But critics called the resolution a "stunt" which wasted time and energy that could have been used to seek legal redress for Israeli violations of Palestinian rights.

The US long maintained that it would reject any such resolution put forward by the Palestinians for not adequately addressing Israel's "security needs," but the the US did not need to use its veto since the resolution did not gain the nine out of 15 votes necessary to reach that stage.

"We had nine votes but Nigeria changed its stand at the last minute," he said. "In an unusual event," he added, "the Arabs spoke with one voice and supported the Palestinian resolution."

Erekat said that in the wake of the vote, a "campaign had been launched justifying Israel's stance and blaming the Palestinian leadership. He rejected this blame, however, saying that he would meet with the US ambassador on Friday to demand a clarification of the US stance.

He pointed out that the Palestinian leadership was currently "reconsidering the totality of our relationship with Israel, including security coordination," he said, referring to the policy by which Palestinian authorities withdraw their security forces every time the Israeli military wants to enter areas under Palestinian control, namely areas A and B.

"We no longer have a legal, political, nor economic state on the ground and Israel wants us to be an authority without any authority," he added.

Palestinian leaders have repeatedly threatened to end security coordination with Israel or even "dissolve" the PA and force Israel to take full control -- including in early December when a PA official died after being beaten by an Israeli soldier -- but have rarely acted on it.

Security coordination is only applicable in Area A, the 20 percent of the West Bank where Palestinians have civil and security control. In the other 80 percent of the West Bank, Israeli forces maintain constant security control.

Palestine in the ICC by March

Erekat said that Palestine would accede to all of the treaties and conventions president Abbas signed on Dec. 31 within the next 30-90 days, and would become a member of the International Criminal Court in March.

He said that that no one could prevent Palestine from joining the agreements that were signed as leadership "chose international organizations that do not need voting to be joined in order to prevent Israel from thwarting the process."

Erekat added that the occupation of the West Bank and the summer Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip that left more than 2,200 dead will be the major topics discussed at the ICC.

He said Palestinian laws will be adjusted to match the joined international organizations as well.

He will be handing the US ambassador a message on Friday to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which was also handed to Britain and Russia, he added.

Any new peace negotiations or talks with Israel, he said, should be based on a decision by the Security Council which will define solution standards under a timeline, thus rejecting the open-ended negotiations the US has long pushed upon Palestinian leaders.