RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday urged the International Criminal Court to issue a subpoena and arrest warrant against Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Palestinians say that the extremist minister had called on the Israeli army to carry out assassinations of Palestinians in the West Bank, as happened in the Gaza Strip during the last round of military escalation.
The fighting lasted for five days, stopping before midnight on Saturday with a ceasefire mediated by Egypt.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh praised Egypt’s role in mediating a truce between Islamic Jihad and Israel.
President Abbas said that the truce reflects the strength of Egyptian-Palestinian relations and President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s interest in the Palestinian cause.
Since the start of the year, Israeli armed forces and settlers have killed 151 Palestinians, including women and children. Thirty-three of these victims were killed in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian ministry described Ben-Gvir’s positions and statements as “a license to kill Palestinian citizens.”
It added that the minister’s calls for an unjustified military escalation reflect an expansionist colonial mentality to perpetuate the gradual creeping annexation of the West Bank and constitute an attempt to break the will of the Palestinians.
The ministry said that the calls of the “racist, fascist Ben-Gvir” aim to achieve “ethnic cleansing” and a replacement of the Palestinian population with settlers.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the ministry said that military operations in the West Bank are in violation of international law and the “right to life” and amount to apartheid politics. It added that Ben-Gvir’s demands are evidence of a policy that has less to do with self-defense than with the desire to “intimidate Palestinian citizens” and “sow havoc, destruction and chaos.”
The ministry called on the international community to take a firm and explicit stance against Ben-Gvir, asking the ICC to issue a subpoena and arrest warrant against him.
Ambassador Ahmad Al-Deek, political adviser to the Palestinian Foreign Minister, told Arab News: “The international community should try Ben-Gvir before the ICC and consider his statements as…(a) veiled call to kill Palestinians.”
Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative Party, told Arab News that Ben-Gvir was trying to distract from his government’s failure in Gaza to weaken the Palestinian resistance.
He pointed out that Ben-Gvir was one of the most influential people to drag Israel into this losing battle, and today they will pay a political price for their failed adventure.
“Ben-Gvir’s threats do not mean anything to the Palestinian people, and it seems that he has not yet understood that the assassinations did not weaken or stop the Palestinians from continuing their struggle against the Israeli occupation, but rather increased their strength and determination,” Barghouti told Arab News.
The statements of Ben-Gvir come a few days before the nationalist Flag March, which around 7,500 Israeli settlers plan to organize on May 18 in Jerusalem, passing through the Old City’s Muslim Quarter to reach the east.
