To: The Chief Prosecutor, The International Criminal Court, The Hague, Netherlands Your Excellency, We, individuals involved for many years in the field of human rights in the territories occupied by….
To:
The Chief Prosecutor, The International Criminal Court,
The Hague, Netherlands
Your Excellency,
We, individuals involved for many years in the field of human rights in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, are writing to the ICC following your request to the Israeli government to clarify whether it intends to investigate complaints of war crimes allegedly committed in the Occupied Territories, including Gaza and east Jerusalem, in general and since 2015 in particular.
We understand that such a request is required in accordance with your procedures in such instances, and we do respect your method of operation.
We wish to assert at this early stage our deep suspicion, based on past experience, that the State of Israel, including its investigative and legal institutions, has no intention to seriously investigate complaints of war crimes. Our suspicion is backed by a very large number of documented cases ostensibly involving war crimes committed by Israel in the Occupied Territories in gross violation of international law. Most of these cases have not been investigated at all, and a few have been concluded with acquittal following a superficial and inadequate investigation.
In our assessment, the many acts of discrimination, severe restrictions upon freedom of movement, appropriation of Palestinian lands for the purpose of Israeli settlement, arbitrary collective punishments (such as curfews and blockades), unwarranted arrests (including long-term administrative detention and illegal incarceration in prisons outside the occupied territories), repeated invasion of private homes and villages, large-scale demolition of houses and other vital structures, prevention of access to basic needs such as water and electricity, denial of residency permits, denial of access to privately-owned Palestinian fields and grazing grounds, and the abject failure of the military courts to provide even a semblance of justice – all these and more are eminently worthy of investigation by your Court. Such acts are the routine, daily reality of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, as we can attest from our own extensive experience there over many years. It is difficult not to see in this list an underlying systemic goal of dispossessing and expelling large numbers of innocent Palestinians from their homes and of barring access to their legally owned lands. As is well known, there are two separate legal systems in place in Israel and the Palestinian territories— the former based on the laws of the state and enshrining basic human rights, the latter, in the occupied territories under military rule, often entailing the denial of such rights.
We must emphasize that addressing the ICC is not an easy choice for us. We are law-abiding citizens who love this land. Precisely from this standpoint, we believe that the actions of the State of Israel and its authorities in the Occupied Territories cause not only unjust and outrageous harm to the local Palestinian population but also irreparable damage to the State of Israel itself. The occupation corrupts every corner of Israel and is driving it into a moral abyss.
Sadly, despite Israel’s image as a state that maintains a proper and professional legal system, the reality paints a different picture – harsh, discriminatory, and outrageous. The law imposed on the Occupied Territories and the manner in which it is applied by the Israeli enforcement and security agencies effectively allow ongoing acts of moral injustice and prima facie war crimes.
Many of us are in contact with the human-rights organizations and activists working in Israel and Palestine, whose ample documentation can contribute to the work of the ICC.
Signed:
Prof. Michal Aviad
Dr. Hanna Aviram
Yael Agmon
Prof. Joseph Agassi
Dr. Dana Olmert
Jonathan Ofir
Claire Oren
Dror Etkes
Prof. Benjamin Isaac
Prof. Eva Illouz
Amos Ityel
Amira Ityel
Prof. Zohar Eitan
Udi Aloni
Rami Elhanan
Dafna Alexandrovitch
Prof. David Enoch
Ora Ardon
Meira Asher
Prof. Jerome Bourdon
Prof. Tali Bitan
Prof. Yoram Bilu
Rachel Beitarie
Idan Bchor
Amitai Ben-Abba
Sadi Ben-Shitrit
Michal Ben-Gera
Daphne Banai
Ronit Back
Hagit Back
Hanna Barag
Dr. Tamar Berger
Prof. Yigal Bronner
B. Michael
Daphna Baram
Ruth Barkai
Prof. Amiram Goldblum
Tamar Goldschmidt
Neta Golan
Ada Gorni
Natalie Ginzburg
Natanya Ginsburg
Dr. Snait Gissis
Maya Gal Eshet
Bat-El Galor
Liora Glatt Traube
Prof. Charles W. Greenbaum
Prof. Raphael Greenberg
Marcia Greenman Lebeau
Niva Grunzwieg
Prof. Ran Greenstein
Dr. Zeev Degani
Ronit Dahan-Ramati
Dani Danieli
Orit Dekel
Aliza Dror
Barak Heymann
Guy Hirschfeld
Prof. Ruth Hacohen
Lahav Halevy
Mattan Helman
Dr. Jeff Halper
Shoshana Halper
Hanna Heller
Roni Hammermann
Dr. Ilana Hammerman
Prof. Don Handelman
Yoav Haas
Prof. Alon Harel
Yehudith Harel
Tal Haran
Rivka Vitenberg
Dr. Uri Weiss
Einat Weizman
Hanna Zohar
Dr. Nava Sonnenschein
Prof. Galit Hasan-Rokem
Rachel Chayut
Anat Tueg
Avital Toch Bar-Haim
Eran Torbiner
Hadas Tal
Dori Tal
Sivan Tal
Yaron Yehoshafat
Smadar Yaaron
Menahem Yaari
Raia Yaron
Dr. Yanai Israeli
Dugi Israeli
Ram Cohen
Hanna Kahana
Tzruya Lahav
Prof. Ram Loevy
Karin Lindner
Prof. Idan Landau
Dr. Mili Mass
Avichai Magal
Jonathan Mizrachy
Dr. Anat Matar
Elia Michaeli
Dr. Ishai Menuchin
Ivonne Mansbach-Kleinfeld
Prof. Jacob (Kobi) Metzer
Prof. Avishai Margalit
Racheli Merhav
Prof. Jad Neeman
Shirli Nadav
Ohad Naharin
Kobi Niv
Ofer Neiman
Nina Sebba
MD Ronit Sevilia Zangvil
Maya Savir
Dr. Aliza Savir
Anouk Savir-Kadmon
Irit Segoli
Prof. Guy Stroumsa
Prof. Sarah Stroumsa
Dr. Yoav Silbert
Tamar Selby
Revital Sella
Amitai Sandy
Dr. Kobi Snitz
Dr. David Senesh
Dr. Michal Sapir
Iftach Spector
Hannah Safran
Prof. Amotz Agnon
Prof. Avraham Oz
Dr. Meir Amor
Uriela Inbar
Shoshi Anbar
Orna Akad
Fathiya Akfa
Zohar Atai
Nurit Popper
Sylvia Piterman
Micky Fisher
Prof. Nurit Peled Elhanan
Tamar Fleishman
Prof. Emmanuel Farjoun
Sigal Primor
Ronny Perlman
Rachel Perets
Nola Chilton
Shaul Tcherikover
Goni Tsur
Avner Tsur
Varda zur
Ronit Chitayat Kashi
Shimri Zameret
Noam Kadmon
Michal Kaiser-Livne
Annelien Kisch
Tali Klagesbrun
Prof. Menachem Klein
Adam Keller
Aya Kaniuk
Luciana Kaploun
Professor Yosef Kaplan
Nurit Karshon
Prof. Ishai Rosen-Zvi
Prof. Freddie Rokem
Micha Rachman
Haran Rivlin
Dr. Nura Resh
Jonathan Sugarman
Dr. Ygal Shochat
Dr. Daphna Shochat Bagon
Prof. David Dean Shulman
Prof. Dmitry Shumsky
Yael Shomroni
Shelly Steinberg
Shlomit Steinitz
Tamar Shita
Miriam Shlesinger
Dr. Moshe Shalit
Tami Shellef
Vardit Shalfy
Mati Shmuelof
Ziyona Snir
Yonatan Shapira
Dr. Tzvia Shapira
Riki Shaked-Trainin
Dr. Dan Tamir