International Criminal Court’s Territorial and Temporal Jurisdiction in the Situation of State of Palestine رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

In 2012, State of Palestine was granted a non-member observer status in the United Nation by a General Assembly resolution 67/19, this had legal effects such as entering international organizations and becoming a party of various international conventions. Palestine became a state member in Rome Statute in 2015, and accepted the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court according to Article 12(3) over alleged crimes committed on the Palestinian Territories. In 2019, the ICC Prosecutor disclosed the conclusion of the preliminary examination of the situation in Palestine after determining that the situation meets all the criteria but requesting a ruling over the scope of the Court’s jurisdiction in the situation in Palestine. In 2021, the Pre-Trial Chamber I ruled that the Court’s jurisdiction concerning Palestine includes the occupied territories of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, all of which have been under Israeli control since 1967. However, the Chamber explained that this ruling did not address whether Palestine meets the criteria for statehood under international law or the ongoing dispute between Palestine and Israel. The focus of the Chamber’s decision was solely to outline the scope of the Court’s jurisdiction in this matter. Therefore, the Office is obliged to open an investigation in the situation in Palestine over the alleged crimes according to the Rome Status, and the Office may expand or modify the investigation as long as it’s linked to the situations. The thesis will concentrate over what are the legal basis of the decision made by the International Criminal Court by the Pre-Trial Chamber I, and the effect of focusing on the General Assembly Resolution 67/19 in determining the status of Palestine as a state since that multi countries and non-governmental organization expressed during the preliminary examination that Palestine is not considered a state, and Israel's status as a non-state party to the Rome Statute may limit the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction over any crimes committed in its territories