Saeb Erekat
Saeb ErekatFlash 90

Saeb Erekat, secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Executive Committee, announced on Monday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) transferred to the International Criminal Court in the Hague a detailed file concerning Israeli “settlements”.

In a radio interview Erekat expressed hope that the court will soon decide to open a criminal investigation into the "settlement crimes".

“Palestine” officially joined the ICC on April 1, 2015, and immediately filed a series of legal complaints with the court, including a claim that Israeli “settlements” are “an ongoing war crime”. Additional complaints revolve around the war in Gaza in 2014, the issue of terrorist prisoners in Israel, and others.

Palestinian Arab non-governmental organizations, collaborating with Israeli organizations, have submitted evidence of Israel's alleged “crimes” against civilians and UNRWA schools in Gaza in the summer of 2014.

Erekat's announcement comes after a recent report that the PA is mulling more lawsuits against Israel at the ICC.

In his remarks Monday, Erekat also called on international institutions to act to halt the Israeli moves which harm peace and a two-state solution.

He added that the PA sent letters to various countries regarding the unprecedented “settlement activities” which takes place in parallel to the “settlers' daily attacks against the Al Aqsa Mosque, the confiscation of land and intensifying attacks against the Palestinian people.”

“We asked the world to settle accounts with the occupation in this regard, and emphasized that Israel's activity is destroying peace and the two-state solution, and that it will certainly cause extremism and bloodshed and chaos,” said Erekat.