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Palestine formally joins International Criminal Court

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Palestinians join The Hague-based International Criminal Court, setting scene for potential legal action against Israel.

Palestinians reject the argument the Israeli officials cannot be tried at the ICC, because Israel is not a signatory of the Rome Statute [EPA]

Palestinians reject the argument the Israeli officials cannot be tried at the ICC, because Israel is not a signatory of the Rome Statute [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Palestine has formally attained membership of the International Criminal Court, a move that could open the door to possible war crime indictments against Israeli officials despite uncertainty over its wider ramifications.

The accession on Wednesday is another landmark in the Palestinian diplomatic and legal international campaign, which gained steam in 2014.

The Palestinians moved to join The Hague-based court on January 2, in a process that was finalised on Wednesday, setting the scene for potential legal action.

“Palestine has and will continue to use all legitimate tools within its means in order to defend itself against Israeli colonisation and other violations of international law,” said senior Palestinian official Saeb Erakat.

Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull, reporting from The Hague, said despite their membership, the Palestinians may still have to wait for the ICC to begin investigating Israelis accused of war crimes.

“This is such a heavily politicised case, that the court will have to think hard before taking action against the Israelis. It may be years before we something.”

Diana Chehade, a former ICC official, told Al Jazeera, preliminary examinations could be completed by the end of this year, but the court would not investigate cases already being looked in to by other judicial institutions.

“Based on the principle of complimentarity, the ICC would not investigate if an Israeli judicial institution is investigating a war crime to ICC standards,” Chehade said.

‘ICC train left’

The ICC has long been brandished as one of the Palestinians’ doomsday measures, along with threatening to end vital West Bank security coordination with Israel.

The notion of ICC investigations is outrageous to Israel, and Netanyahu has accused the Palestinian unity government – including Hamas which the Jewish state considers “terrorist” – of “manipulating” the court.

Israel retaliated swiftly and cut off millions of dollars in monthly tax payments it collects on behalf of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.

The notion of forming a Palestinian state by negotiations was buried during this month’s election campaign by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin  Netanyahu, who pledged one would not be established on his watch, were he to retain his post as prime minister.

Netanyahu meanwhile released the held funds, which constitute two-thirds of the PA’s income, excluding foreign aid.

Some Israeli media reported that in exchange for unfreezing the money the Palestinians agreed to refrain from filing complaints to the ICC on April 1.

“It’s a huge lie. Taxes have nothing to do with our ICC approach. The ICC train already departed,” said Xavier Abu Eid, a spokesman for Palestine Liberation Organisation.

‘Absurd’ measures

April 1, however, will be primarily ceremonial, with Palestinian foreign minister Riad Malki receiving a copy of the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty.

While some Palestinian officials announced the date as the day they would file complaints against Israelis, in reality it is more likely they will wait, as state members are only able to draw the court’s attention to specific cases.

In addition, they will be holding on to see the outcomes of a preliminary probe launched by ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on January 16.

At the same time that Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas sought ICC accession, he also sent the court documents authorising the prosecutor to investigate alleged crimes that took place in Palestinian territories since June 13, 2014.

The unrest in June escalated to the summer war between Israel and Gaza fighters, which left dead 2,200 Palestinians and 73 on the Israeli side.

So far, no ICC investigation of Israeli officials has been launched and no time framework has been set for one.

But the Palestinians are confident they will happen sooner rather than later, considering “all the attention to Palestine” at the ICC.

The Palestinians reject the argument the Israeli officials cannot be tried at the ICC, because Israel is not a signatory of the Rome Statute, maintaining the court can also investigate crimes committed on the territory of member states.

“It’s absurd for the ICC to ignore international law and agreements, under which the Palestinians don’t have a state and can only get one through direct negotiations with Israel,” Netanyahu said in January following the announcement of the preliminary probe.

Among the forms of Israeli retaliation is legal assistance for victims of Palestinian attacks.

In February, a US jury found the PA and PLO responsible for six attacks which killed dozens and ordered them to pay the victims’ families more than $650 million in damages.

UN says 2014 'devastating year' for Palestinians

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Annual Humanitarian Overview finds more Palestinian civilians were killed in 2014 than any year since the 1967 war.

'Continued occupation undermines the ability of Palestinians to live normal lives,' said the UN Humanitarian Coordinator. AFP / Abbas Momani

‘Continued occupation undermines the ability of Palestinians to live normal lives,’ said the UN Humanitarian Coordinator. AFP / Abbas Momani

by Dalia Hatuqa, Al Jazeera

Occupied West Bank: The year 2014 claimed more Palestinian civilian lives than any year since the 1967 war, the United Nations has said in a report, with a senior member of the agency dubbing it a “devastating year” for the occupied territories.

The annual Humanitarian Overview, released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Thursday, said the crisis affecting Palestinians’ lives, liberties, security movement and access stemmed from the “prolonged [Israeli] occupation…, alongside a system of policies that undermine the ability of Palestinians to live normal, self-sustaining lives”.

The report, titled “Fragmented Lives” – which is based on data cross-referenced with other UN agencies, as well as government sources, international, Palestinian and Israeli NGOs – said that if these factors were removed, Palestinians would be self-sufficient and capable of developing their own institutions and economy without the need for any humanitarian assistance.

“2014 was a devastating year for Palestinians in the [occupied territories]” said James Rawley, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the territories.

“Continued occupation undermines the ability of Palestinians to live normal lives. Were these factors removed and related policies changed, international humanitarian assistance would not be necessary here.”

Fifty-eight Palestinians were killed in the West Bank last year – the highest number of Palestinian fatalities in incidents involving Israeli forces since 2007.

More than 6,000 were injured, the report said, dubbing it the highest number of Palestinian injuries since 2005, when the OCHA began collecting data.

“A record number of 1,215 Palestinians were displaced due to home demolitions by Israeli authorities,” Rawley added.

“Settlement and settler activity continued, in contravention of international law, and contributed to humanitarian vulnerability of affected Palestinian communities.”

Approximately 1,500 civilians (550 of them children) were killed in Gaza during the July-August war. Five Israeli civilians were killed during that time, including a child.

One hundred thousand people in the Gaza Strip are still internally displaced, living in collectives centres, with host families or in makeshift shelters. Some have chosen to stay in their heavily damaged homes.

According to the report’s findings: “In 2014, Gaza witnessed the highest rate of internal displacement since 1967… Almost 500,000 people, 28 percent of the population, were internally displaced.”

Since the summer, reconstruction in Gaza has been slowed, hampered by the Israeli blockade and dwindling funds, the report explained, but highlighted that the temporary Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism put into place after last summer’s war has enabled the import of some construction material.

In the West Bank, the number of people displaced in 2014 due to demolitions is the highest recorded in a single year since the OCHA began tracking this indicator in 2008, the report said.

While the number of structures demolished in Area C – the 60 percent of the West Bank under exclusive Israeli control – declined last year, there was a 20 percent increase in people displaced, because more residential structures were targeted.

The report called on all parties to exercise constraint and for Israel to take responsibility as an occupying power.

“All parties to the conflict … must fulfil their legal obligations to conduct hostilities in accordance with international law to ensure the protection of all civilians and to ensure accountability for acts committed,” it said.

White House says Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands 'must end'

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In striking choice of words, Obama’s chief of staff elevates public rhetoric against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

The White House chief of staff, Denis McDonough, told the lobby group J Street that the US would never support unilateral Israeli annexation of the West Bank. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

The White House chief of staff, Denis McDonough, told the lobby group J Street that the US would never support unilateral Israeli annexation of the West Bank. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

by Jon Queally, Common Dreams

President Obama’s chief of staff Denis McDonough on Monday made a striking announcement on behalf of the administration by telling a crowd of Jewish-American political activists that Israel’s military “occupation” of the West Bank must end as he pushed back against comments made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both before and after his recent reelection victory.

“An occupation that has lasted for almost 50 years must end,” said McDonough at the annual J Street conference in Washington, DC. “Israel cannot maintain military control of another people indefinitely.”

J Street is billed as the more liberal, pro-Israel lobby group which in recent years has tried to offset the more hawkish American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, known as AIPAC.

Though Israel’s domination of the West Bank and its continued building of settlements on captured Palestinian lands has long been considered a violation of international law and is the basis for some much of the ongoing conflict, the U.S. government—including the Obama administration—has widely supported Israel’s activities, defended it from international sanctions at the United Nations, provided the Israeli military with a constant flow of aid, and rarely, if ever, employed the term “occupation” despite its commonplace use elsewhere in the world when describing the situation.

McDonough’s stronger use of language was widely seen as a public declaration of continued frustration by the administration regarding statements made by Netanyahu ahead of Israel elections that took place last week. Not only did the Prime Minister foreswear publicly his support for the two-state solution—a commitment to the so-called “peace process” that has been the basis for international efforts to end the conflict—but he also employed racially-charged language against Israeli-Arabs during the elections as he used fear-mongering to warn Jewish voters in Israel that their Arab neighbors were “voting in droves” to destroy Israel. Though Netanyahu has made efforts to walk back both comments, McDonough expressed the White House’s reluctance to accept these new assurances.

“We cannot simply pretend that those comments were never made, or that they don’t raise questions about the prime minister’s commitment to achieving peace through direct negotiations,” McDonough told the crowd.

Reasserting the White House commitment to the two-state solution, he added, “Palestinian children deserve the same right to be free in their own land as Israeli children in their land. A two-state solution will finally bring Israelis the security and normalcy to which they are entitled, and Palestinians the sovereignty and dignity they deserve.”

In response, speaking with the Palestinian News Network, PLO central committee member, Wassel Abu Yousef, indicated McDonough’s statements may be an improvement in rhetoric but said they were “late” in terms of serving the right of the Palestinian people. According to Yousef, words from the Obama administration “should be joint to actions to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, in order to give the Palestinian people their right to self-determination.”

Ali Abunimah, author and Palestinian rights activist, was even more dismissive of McDonough’s comments, declaring on Twitter: “Don’t be impressed by Obama chief of staff’s empty words on Israeli ‘occupation,'”adding that it is an “Occupation paid for by U.S..”

As Jessica Schulberg at the Huffington Post noted:

Despite his harsher-than-usual words for the Israeli leadership, McDonough stressed that the U.S. will continue to ensure that Israel has a stronger military than any of its neighbors. He reminded his audience that the U.S. delivered immediate emergency funding of $225 million for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system during last summer’s Gaza War, in addition to nearly $1 billion in funding already in place for the system.

Next year, McDonough added, Israel will receive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets, making it the only country in the Middle East that will be armed with the highly advanced aircraft.

Israel spied on Iran talks, gave intel to US lawmakers to kill deal: Report

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US officials angered, reports Wall Street Journal, that Israelis used captured information from high-level negotiations to thwart chances of nuclear agreement

U.S. President Barack Obama listens to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., March 3, 2014. (Photo by AFP)

U.S. President Barack Obama listens to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., March 3, 2014. (Photo by AFP)

by Jon Queally, Common Dreams

The Israeli government secretly spied on high-level talks between the U.S., Iran, and other countries and attempted to sabotage the ongoing nuclear negotiations by serving captured information back to U.S. lawmakers opposed to a deal, the Wall Street Journal is reporting on Tuesday.

According to the WSJ:

Soon after the U.S. and other major powers entered negotiations last year to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, senior White House officials learned Israel was spying on the closed-door talks.

The spying operation was part of a broader campaign by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to penetrate the negotiations and then help build a case against the emerging terms of the deal, current and former U.S. officials said. In addition to eavesdropping, Israel acquired information from confidential U.S. briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe, the officials said.

The espionage didn’t upset the White House as much as Israel’s sharing of inside information with U.S. lawmakers and others to drain support from a high-stakes deal intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program, current and former officials said.

“It is one thing for the U.S. and Israel to spy on each other. It is another thing for Israel to steal U.S. secrets and play them back to U.S. legislators to undermine U.S. diplomacy,” said a senior U.S. official briefed on the matter.

Israeli officials on Tuesday quickly denied specific aspects of the reporting. “These allegations are utterly false,” a senior official in the Israeli Prime Minister’s office told CNN. “The state of Israel does not conduct espionage against the United States or Israel’s other allies.”

Officials made similar claims to the WSJ, but the newspaper stood by its reporting which it said was based on interviews with more than a dozen current and former U.S. and Israeli diplomats, intelligence officials, policy makers, and lawmakers.

That the U.S. and Israel routinely spy on one another is no secret. As theWSJ notes, citing remarks from U.S. officials, the “U.S. expends more counterintelligence resources fending off Israeli spy operations than any other close ally.”

But in this case, as noted, it was the act of supplying U.S. lawmakers with Israeli captured intelligence on the talks that appears to have most irked the White House and other officials.

According to the WSJ, “Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer met with U.S. lawmakers and shared details on the Iran negotiations to warn about the terms of the deal” as a way to undermine the talks.

Mr. Dermer started lobbying U.S. lawmakers just before the U.S. and other powers signed an interim agreement with Iran in November 2013. Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Dermer went to Congress after seeing they had little influence on the White House.

Before the interim deal was made public, Mr. Dermer gave lawmakers Israel’s analysis: The U.S. offer would dramatically undermine economic sanctions on Iran, according to congressional officials who took part.

After learning about the briefings, the White House dispatched senior officials to counter Mr. Dermer. The officials told lawmakers that Israel’s analysis exaggerated the sanctions relief by as much as 10 times, meeting participants said.

Despite repeated attempts by the Israeli government and their allies in the U.S. Congress to derail nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 nations, those talks continue to make progress as foreign ministers remain under active negotiations in Switzerland this week.

US will not participate in UN human rights forum on Palestine

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel sits next to President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, left, at the White House in Sept., 2010. (AFP/File)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel sits next to President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, left, at the White House in Sept., 2010. (AFP/File)

The United States will not be be speaking at the UN’s annual human rights forum on violations in the Palestinian Territories, reports Reuters.

“The US delegation will not be speaking about Palestine today,” a US spokesman in Geneva told Reuters.

The unprecedented move could be a reflection of the US reassessing its relationship with Israel afterongoing tension with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Most recently, Obama denounced Netanyahu’s declaration that a two-state solution with Palestine would never happen so long as he is reelected. Netanyahu claims his comments were misinterpreted. 

Netanyahu also recently vowed to stop the US from reaching a nuclear agreement with Iran. 

Benjamin Netanyahu wins elections

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Prime Minister’s right-wing Likud party wins surprise victory, sweeping past rival Zionist Union in bitter campaign.

Benjamin-Netanyahu

by Patrick Strickland, Al Jazeera

Haifa: With more than 99 percent of the votes tallied, Israel’s incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears poised to retain his office and form the next government.

Though the final campaign polls showed Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party trailing behind the centre-left Zionist Union, headed by Isaac Herzog, Likud gained 30 seats, six more than its main competitor, according to official results released on Wednesday.

The Joint Arab Coalition, an electoral alliance of four Palestinian-majority parties in Israel, pulled 14 seats, and Yesh Atid, the centrist party headed by former finance minister Yair Lapid, earned 11 seats. Kulanu, a right-wing breakaway party led by former Likud member Moshe Kahlon, took ten seats.

A number of smaller, mostly right-wing parties were unable to break the single digits: Jewish Home earned eight seats, the religious Shas and United Torah parties each got seven and the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu has six seats.

The left-wing Zionist party Meretz walked away with four seats.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has called for a national unity government including both Likud and the Zionist Union, but that prospect is unpopular with most Jewish Israeli voters.

According to a poll conducted by Israel’s Channel 10, 53 percent of Jewish Israelis oppose such a coalition.

Some analysts expect Netanyahu to cobble together a coalition with right-wing and religious parties.

The Likud party announced on Wednesday morning that Netanyahu has reached out to leaders of the parties with which he hopes to form a coalition: the Jewish Home party, Kulanu, Yisrael Beitenu, Shas and the United Torah Party

Palestinian state?

Zionist Union MK Revital Swid worried that restarting negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority would be difficult under another Netanyahu-led government.

“Regarding security, we all understand that there are challenges in the north and the south of Israel,” she told Al Jazeera. “But people want to see a start of negotiations [with the Palestinians] and putting the peace process back on track.”

“Talking to our neighbours will bring a better life here,” Swid added.

Yet, Netanyahu declared on Monday his intention to block the establishment of a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

“I think that anyone who moves to establish a Palestinian state and evacuate territory gives territory away to radical Islamist attacks against Israel,” Netanyahu said. “The left has buried its head in the sand time after time and ignores this, but we are realistic and understand.”

Dimi Reider, an Israeli journalist and researcher at the European Council on Foreign Affairs, expects Netanyahu “to do much of the same, only quicker” now that he has maintained his position as prime minister.

“More of the same, though, doesn’t mean the situation is static,” Reider told Al Jazeera. “The international pressure will increase.”

“He won’t outright announce a one-state solution and annexation because the illusion of the possibility of a two-state solution is what has allowed Israel to implement his de-facto one-state solution,” he remarked.

Joint Arab List

As electoral turnout polls poured in on Tuesday afternoon, Netanyahu appealed to right-wing voters to cast their ballots, citing the high turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel.

An estimated 1.7 million Palestinians carry Israeli citizenship and live in cities, towns and villages across the country.

Nadim Nashif, director of Baladna, a Haifa-based Arab youth advocacy organisation, expects Netanyahu’s new government to continue introducing discriminatory laws that target Israel’s Palestinian minority.

“This is the true test of the international community,” he said. “Will they do something about it now? Or will they stand by like before?”

Alluding to the results, Nashif argues that a national unity coalition between Netanyahu and Herzog is unlikely. “Thus, the Zionist Union is likely lead the opposition and not the Joint Arab List,” he told Al Jazeera.

Analysts have speculated as to whether the Joint Arab List will be able to stay intact, given the sharp ideological divides between the parties, which include socialists, nationalists and Islamists.

Acknowledging the “serious differences between those parties,” Nashif said: “I think the Joint Arab List will stay intact because they have to. They have to stay together for future elections because the electoral threshold requires it.”

“In any case, the differences are good because they reflect the diversity of our community,” he said. “I don’t see it as a bad thing.”

 

On Eve of Election, Netanyahu Promises No Palestinian State If Re-Elected

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Under political pressure, Israeli prime minister admitted publicly what has long been evidenced by behavior

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to reporters at his office in Jerusalem. (Photo: Reuters)

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to reporters at his office in Jerusalem. (Photo: Reuters)

by Jon Queally, Common Dreams

On the eve of national elections in Israel, politically-embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that if he and his Likud Party were returned to power for another term he would make sure that an independent Palestinian state would not come into being.

The comments come as a reversal of official Israeli government policy which, like the U.S. government, states that a two-state solution is the preferred outcome for the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

As the New York Times reports:

Mr. Netanyahu made the assertion on the eve of an election in which he is trailing in the polls. He has been campaigning aggressively, appealing to conservatives for support.

“I think that anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state today and evacuate lands, is giving attack grounds to the radical Islam against the state of Israel,” he said in a video interview published on the NRG website. “Anyone who ignores this is sticking his head in the sand. The left does this time and time again. We are realistic and understand.”

Asked if he meant that a Palestinian state would not be established if he were to continue as Israel’s prime minister, Mr. Netanyahu replied: “Correct.”

Netanyahu’s comments on Monday come a day after stating that his government, if it remains in power, will not be afraid to build new settlements in East Jerusalem and across the occupied territories. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the rightful capital of a future Palestinian state.

“My friends and I in Likud will preserve the unity of Jerusalem,” he said. “We will continue to build in Jerusalem, we will add thousands of housing units, and in the face of all the (international) pressure, we will persist and continue to develop our eternal capital.”

Reaction on Twitter was quick to acknowledge that few ever thought Netanyahu had any commitment—official or otherwise—to what is called the two-state solution. As journalist Murtaza Hussein tweeted with implied sarcasm:

The Associated Press adds:

Tuesday’s election caps an acrimonious three-month campaign that is widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu. The hard-line leader has portrayed himself as the only politician capable of confronting Israel’s numerous security challenges, while his opponents have focused on the country’s high cost of living and presented Netanyahu as imperious and out of touch with the common man. As Netanyahu’s poll numbers have dropped in recent days, he has appeared increasingly desperate, stepping up his nationalistic rhetoric in a series of interviews to local media to appeal to his core base. Netanyahu has also complained of an international conspiracy to oust him, funded by wealthy foreigners who dislike him, and on Sunday night, he addressed an outdoor rally before tens of thousands of hard-line supporters in Tel Aviv. The strategy is aimed at siphoning off voters from nationalistic rivals, but risks alienating centrist voters who are expected to determine the outcome of the race.

When it comes to establishing a viable and equitable Palestinian state, author and rights activist Ali Abunimah also took to Twitter in the wake of Netanyahu’s comments to point out that Likud’s largest political rival in this election, the newly formed Zionist Union coalition, is not itself likely to make any substantial moves toward supporting a settlement with the Palestinians or ending the occupation of the West Bank. 

Republican senators to Iran: Nuclear deal may be revoked after Obama

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The letter is the latest in a series of attempts by Congress Republicans to shut down a nuclear deal between the two countries in which Obama has advocated against additional sanctions on Iran, while US Republican and Israeli lawmakers say the proposed deal allows for too much nuclear power for the Islamic Republic. (AFP/File)

The letter is the latest in a series of attempts by Congress Republicans to shut down a nuclear deal between the two countries in which Obama has advocated against additional sanctions on Iran, while US Republican and Israeli lawmakers say the proposed deal allows for too much nuclear power for the Islamic Republic. (AFP/File)

by JPost

A group of Republican senators has written a letter to the Iranian leadership warning that any nuclear deal Tehran signs with the current US administration will not necessarily be honored after President Barack Obama leaves office.

The letter, first reported by Bloomberg on Sunday, was initiated by Senator Tom Cotton and signed by 47 Republicans, including Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell and Orin Hatch.

The letter is the latest effort by Congress to gain some control over an emerging deal with Iran, which some senators see as allowing the Islamic Republic to retain too much of its nuclear infrastructure, a view that was expressed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his speech to Congress last week.

“It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system … Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement,” the letter states.

The senators point out to the Iranian leadership that any international treaty not approved by Congress “is a mere executive agreement.”

While President Obama is limited to two terms in office and will leave the White House in January 2017, “most of us will remain in office well beyond then – perhaps decades,” the senators state.

“We will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei, The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement any time,” they add.

Iran and Obama dismiss Netanyahu speech to US Congress

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Iran’s vice president describes Israeli PM’s speech criticising US policy towards Tehran as “deceitful and a desperate”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was greeted at the US Congress by a long standing ovation [AP]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was greeted at the US Congress by a long standing ovation [AP]

by Al Jazeera

Tehran has called the speech of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the US Congress on Iran’s nuclear talks deceitful and a desperate attempt to impose an irrational agenda.

In his speech to Congress, Netanyahu said that the world must stand together to stop Iran from gaining access to a nuclear weapon.

Iran denies accusations it wishes to produce such a weapon and is currently in talks with the US and other powers over its nuclear programme.

Massoumeh Ebtekar, Iran’s vice president, said on Tuesday that Netanyahu was trying to derail the negotiations.

“I don’t think it carries much weight. Well, they’re [Israeli government] making their efforts to somehow derail the deal…,” Ebtekar said.

“But I think the more logical lobbies in both sides are looking forward to a solution.”

US President Barack Obama dismissed Netanyahu’s speech, saying the Israeli leader did not offer any alternatives.

In a similar speech in 2012, Netanyahu warned the UN General Assembly that Iran was 70 percent of the way to completing its “plans to build a nuclear weapon”.

However, a secret cable obtained by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit revealed last month that at the time of the UN speech Mossad – Israel’s intelligence service –  believed that Iran was “not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons”.

Obama says ‘nothing new’

In the speech on Cogress, which escalated the Israeli leader’s campaign against Obama’s diplomacy with Iran, Netanyahu said on that there was a need to “stand together to stop Iran’s march of conquest, subjugation and terror”.

In response, Obama said: “I am not focused in the politics of this. I am not focused on the theatre.

“As far as I can tell, there was nothing new.

“On the core issue, which is how to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon which would make it far more dangerous, the prime minister did not offer any viable alternatives.”

Iran and international powers have set a deadline of late March to reach a framework agreement and June for a comprehensive final settlement.

The powers want to curb Iran’s nuclear programme to ensure it cannot develop an atomic bomb, and Iran wants crippling economic sanctions to be lifted.

Obama said there was no deal with Iran yet, but if the negotiations turned out to be successful, the agreement would be “the best deal possible”.

However, Netanyahu said that the proposed Iran nuclear deal would leave Iran with a “vast” nuclear programme and that the world should demand that Tehran stops its aggression towards its neighbours before lifting restrictions.

“If the deal now being negotiated is accepted by Iran, that deal will not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons – it will all but guarantee that Iran will get those nuclear weapons – lots of them.”

Netanyahu was greeted at the Congress by a long standing ovation.

However, at least 50 Democratic members refused to attend the speech to protest against what they see as a politicisation of Israeli security, an issue on which Congress usually unites.

Following Netanyahu’s speech, Mitch McConnell, the US Senate majority leader, said on Tuesday the Senate would begin debating next week a bill that would require Obama to submit any final nuclear deal with Iran for approval by Congress.

“We think it will help prevent the administration from entering into a bad deal,” McConnell said.

“But if they do, it will provide an opportunity for Congress to weigh in.”

However, the White House has said Obama would veto the bill.

Palestine to lodge ICC case against Israel in April

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A Palestinian boy climbs through the rubble of a house after it was hit in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, Aug. 25, 2014. (Photo: Wissam Nassar / The New York Times)

A Palestinian boy climbs through the rubble of a house after it was hit in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, Aug. 25, 2014. (Photo: Wissam Nassar / The New York Times)

by RT

Palestine’s first complaint against Israel’s alleged war crimes will be filed at the International Criminal Court in April, according to a senior Palestinian official. The issue will reportedly be related to the 2014 war in Gaza.

“One of the first important steps will be filing a complaint against Israel at the ICC on April 1 over the [2014] Gaza war and settlement activity,” Mohammed Shtayyeh, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) told AP on Monday.

The Palestinians will be able to take legal action at the court based in The Hague, Netherlands, after the nation moved to join the international authority formally in January. According to the court’s procedures, “the statute will enter into force for the State of Palestine on April 1.”

Israel’s foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon expressed his country’s refusal to react to the declaration, describing it as“speculative and hypothetical,” as quoted by AP. The Israeli administration has for decades consistently opposed Palestine’s legal power to sue Israel for war crimes.

After Palestine’s move to join the ICC was confirmed by the UN in January, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country “will not let Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers and officers be dragged” to The Hague. Following the announcement in January, Israel froze the transfer of half a billion shekels ($125 million) in tax revenue to the Palestinian Authority.

The ICC, with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, announced a preliminary examination into Israel’s 2014 actions in Gaza. Around 2,200 Palestinians were killed in that conflict,with over 60 percent of the victims being civilians. Israel’s losses included 66 soldiers and 6 civilians, according to an investigation, carried out by AP earlier this month.

After Palestine officially joins the Court in April, it also plans to sue Israel over its policy of settlement building on land occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. Under international law, all Israeli construction on land seized during the war is considered illegal.

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