The Palestinian Authority is not eligible to join the International Criminal Court, a senior US official said Wednesday after the UN accepted a Palestinian request to adhere to the tribunal. The United States does not believe that the state of Palestine qualifies as a sovereign state and does not recognize it as such and does not believe that it is eligible to accede to the Rome statute under which the ICC was set up, said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. The United States, however, is not a member of the International Criminal Court, and it remains unclear what power it has to block the move after UN chief Ban Ki-moon accepted the PAs request late Tuesday. Under the US budget for fiscal year 2015 passed in late December, aid to the Palestinians would be cut off if it tries to haul Israel before the court on war crimes charges following the 50-day war in Gaza. Senator Rand Paul late Tuesday introduced a draft bill which would freeze all monies to the Palestinians even for seeking recognition at the ICC. After the Palestinian Authority formally presented its request to the United Nations to join the ICC on Friday, Israel announced it was delaying the transfer of $127 million to the PA in retaliation... {Meredith Leah Lincoln} israelnationalnews/News/News.aspx/189643#.VK3ieSvF-uw
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 02:03:44 +0000
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