Palestinian Envoy Submits Signed ICC Membership Request to UN

Following a meeting with the Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Palestinian ambassador said he had submitted a total of 18 documents signed by the Palestinian authorities to the UN. Palestinians chose to join the ICC to seek justice for the victims of Israeli occupation, he said.

UNITED NATIONS, January 2 (Sputnik) — Palestine's Permanent Observer to the UN Riyad Mansour has presented the documents to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) to the United Nations Friday.

United Nations’ press service said that Ambassador Riyad H. Mansour had a meeting with the Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Stephen Mathias “to transmit copies of instruments of accession of the State of Palestine, issued by H.E. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine.”

Following his meeting with Stephen Mathias, Riyad Mansour told journalists that in accordance with the international regulations, Palestinian Autonomy will become ICC's 123th member in 60 days. He added that he submitted a total of 18 documents signed by the Palestinian authorities to the United Nations. He also stated that Palestinians chose to join the ICC to seek justice for the victims of Israeli occupation.

On Wednesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed a request to join the ICC as well as about 20 other international organizations, after UN Security Council failed to pass the resolution on the creation of an independent Palestinian state. The Palestinian ICC membership bid is an attempt to continue to seek the adoption of UN Security Council resolution on ending the occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel. Abbas also said that he is going to use the ICC membership to sue Israeli politicians and military.

On Tuesday, the UN Security Council rejected the Palestinian statehood resolution, with eight nations, including Russia, supporting the document, the United States and Australia voting against it and five countries abstaining. The failed resolution stipulated the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in 1967, with Tel Aviv withdrawing all of its forces by the end of 2017.

The UN regulations state that, in order to be adopted, a document must be supported by at least nine nations, with all five permanent representatives of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom) voting in favor.