The Wall Street Journal reports that "the International Criminal Court (ICC) is among the 63 international agencies and treaties the Palestine Liberation Organization will seek to join amid the collapse of peace talks with Israel."
At the same time, a senior official "with the party that dominates the PLO on Tuesday denied such a move was at hand, saying the Palestinians want to avoid angering the U.S." Apparently, ratifying upwards of 63 treaties did not meet with the same concern.
The WSJ also obtained a list of 48 treaties and agencies to which the Palestinians intend to apply in addition to 21 treaties they formally applied to on April 1, 2014. In the case of the first twenty-one treaties, it was clear that only states could sign, ratify or accede.
Nevertheless, UN and officials of the other agencies acting as so-called treaty "depositories" immediately agreed that "Palestine" was entitled to join. In addition to the ICC, the WSJ reports: "the list includes the Law of the Sea and the convention on international civil aviation...the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and conventions against the use of land mines and cluster munitions."
UN officials told the WSJ that ratifying the law of the sea treaty and the convention on international civil aviation "would give Palestinians legal control over their airspace and territorial waters off Gaza." UN assurance notwithstanding, such a claim would be subject to clear dispute.