Saeb Erekat, secretary of the PLO Executive Committee, on Tuesday announced that the "State of Palestine" plans to appeal to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against U.S. President Donald Trump's peace plan and his recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In an interview with a Turkish news agency, Erekat said that U.S. policy is contrary to the decisions of international institutions, which regard East Jerusalem as territory that is "occupied" by Israel. Erekat further stated that the Palestinian Authority (PA) intends to turn once again to the UN Security Council with a request that it recognize it as a full member state in the United Nations. He claimed that the United States strives to remove Jerusalem from the negotiating table, to dry up UNRWA by reducing financial aid to the organization, to leave the IDF in the Jordan Valley, leave the settlement blocs intact and allow IsrSaael to control the air space and the ports. He added that according to the American view, only under these conditions would a Palestinian state be declared and its capital would be in the suburbs of Jerusalem. The PA officially joined the ICC on April 1, 2015, and immediately filed a series of legal complaints with the court. In addition to claiming that Israel committed war crimes during the 2014 Gaza war, it also claimed that Israeli “settlements” are “an ongoing war crime”. Earlier this month, PA chairman Abbas announced his intention to file lawsuits against Israel at the ICC. While the PA has complained to the ICC against Israel, it itself is not immune from lawsuits at the ICC. In fact, Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center has already launched lawsuits against PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leaders at the ICC.
