"Experts need to continue to press back on the International Criminal Court's recognition of Palestine as a state, because 'there is still time and room to counter this,' international law scholar Andrew Tucker told The Jerusalem Post...
Tucker said while he recognized that the ICC Prosecution and the ICC's legislative body – the Assembly of State Parties – recognized Palestine as a state in 2015, enabling it to ask the ICC Prosecution to probe alleged Israeli war crimes, he said a party could file a motion with the ICC's Pretrial Chamber to veto the ICC Prosecution's acceptance of Palestine as a state.
If Palestine was ruled not to be a state by the ICC Pretrial Chamber, then the ICC Prosecution's probe of Israelis would likely fall by the wayside.
While Tucker would argue numerous points for why Palestine fails the test of international law for statehood, he emphasized the Palestinian Authority's inability to effectively govern the West Bank and Gaza as a single state.
He added that he believed global confidence in the PA has dissipated.
Admitting that the ICC Prosecution might decide to open a full criminal investigation against Israelis for alleged war crimes and that the ICC Pretrial Chamber has not been friendly to Israel, he said, 'If there is a decision to proceed, then we need to get the debate over Palestinian statehood on the agenda.'
'The more we get people to talk about it... maybe we can get them to turn back [from accepting Palestine as a state].'..."