PRESS RELEASE
April 3, 2012
Contact: Jason Edelstein
NGO Monitor
+972-52-861-2129
mail@ngo-monitor.org
Prosecutor's Office rejects jurisdiction of "Palestine," echoes
NGO Monitor's legal brief
JERUSALEM - In a key defeat for NGO "lawfare" in the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) today decided that it does not have jurisdiction to begin an investigation over cases related to the 2008-09 Gaza War because "Palestine" is not a state. In January 2009, the Palestinian Authority (PA) filed a letter with the Court, purporting to accept the ICC's jurisdiction in order to bring war crimes cases against Israeli officials, notes Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, which was involved in the case from the outset.
