Chapter Two Palestine’s Accession to the International Criminal Court Palestine’s new status in the UN as an observer state enhances the possibility to pursue Israeli war criminals. This might contribute to Palestine’s ratification of the statute of the International Criminal Court in compliance with the Rome Statute. The debate whether Palestine is a state or not came to a close when the General Assembly upgraded its status to an observer state, and so its application to ratify the Rome Statute of the ICC could be accepted. However, the acceptance of Palestine’s accession to the ICC are to be subjected to special measures relevant to the court itself, and not by vote. The response of the Chief Prosecutor of the Court to Palestine’s formal recognition of the jurisdiction of the court was that the International Criminal Court54 would allow Palestine to sign on if the General Assembly approved a resolution recognizing Palestine as a non-member observer state. In order for the ICC to implement its jurisdiction, the Palestinian bid to join the Rome Statute should have met the condition of the court, which is to be a state accepting the jurisdiction of the court with respect to the relevant crime. One expert in international law, John Quigley, views that Palestine should be considered a state pursuant to the General Assembly’s recognition of the State of Palestine, which was declared by the Palestinian National Council in 1988. The UN’s former Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, Professor John Dogard, has suggested that since the Rome Statute does not have a specific definition of a state, the Chief Prosecutor of the Court can decide that Palestine does not represent a state for all purposes, but does so for the purpose of the court; he added that the Chief Prosecutor of the Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, does not have the right to follow a narrow approach concentrating on the absence of an effective government, and that he should take a more flexible approach that achieves the main purpose of the founding of the ICC. He further reasons that when an entity is recognized by the majority of states as a state, and it applies to join the Rome Statute, the ICC should accept it as a state for the purposes of its statute and objectives55. The Chief Prosecutor of the ICC then responded that Palestine was recognized as a state by (130) states and international organizations, and this included some UN bodies bilaterally, though the status given to it by General Assembly is observer “entity” and not non-member state. He also noted that the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office could consider in the future the crimes claimed to be committed in Palestine if the specialized UN bodies or the assembly of the member states solve the legal matter relevant to Article (12)56, or if 54 http://www.sify.com/news/ap-interview-ocampo-discusses-palestinians-on-icc-news-international-mefdKLfhbje.html 55 Al-Haq, position paper relative to the PA›s recognition of the ICC›s jurisdiction according to Article (12\3) of its statute, Ramallah, Palestine, 2010. 56 A State which becomes a Party to this Statute thereby accepts the jurisdiction of the Court with respect to the crimes referred to in Article 5. For more, see Article 13, paragraph (a) or (c). 31