RNA - Foreign and Expatriates Minister Riad Malki is scheduled to meet on Tuesday with ICC Persecutor Fatou Bensouda to hand in the referral, WAFA reported.
Malki will call upon the court to assume its responsibility and duties towards bringing justice to the Palestinian people and hold Israel, the occupying power, accountable for its continuous crimes and violations, the statement said.
"The ICC is the competent authority to investigate the ongoing Israeli crimes associated with the illegal colonial settlement regime and to prosecute those criminals who commit such crimes," it added.
"In this context, the State of Palestine exercises its right as a State party in the ICC, and thus refers to the Office of The Prosecutor the crimes committed by officials of Israel, The occupying power, against the Palestinian people. The ICC will be expected to accelerate the opening of a criminal investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel. It is time to hold the Israeli war criminals accountable and to bring justice to the Palestinian People," the statement concluded.
Malki is expected to hold a press conference soon after handing in the referral in front of the permanent headquarters of the ICC.
The Palestinians stressed that they were no longer obliged to keep an understanding with the United States reached with the former Barack Obama Administration regarding not handing in referrals on Israeli crimes to the ICC after Washington has reneged on its part of the understanding when the current Donald Trump Administration recognized Jerusalem as capital of Israel and moved its embassy to the city.
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