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War Crimes Case Against Israel over Gaza May Never Get Started
(Irish Times) Peter Cluskey - The decision on whether or not to launch an investigation of Israel will be taken by the ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, having examined the merits of the case. Even if Bensouda was to begin an investigation, she would then have to decide whether its findings should lead to indictments against named individuals - as distinct from the Israeli state or the Israel Defense Forces. But most politically complex of all is the possibility that the ICC may have to rule on whether or not Palestine is legally a state, because only sovereign states can join the ICC. If Palestine is not a state, then it cannot join. If it is a state, then, before proceeding with any investigation, there will be the task of defining its territory. Such a case, says Leiden law professor Carsten Stahn, "could take close to a decade, at least."