Jumbo Shrimp, Dry Rain, Government Organization, Un-politicized International Law
Europe has jumped on board in claiming that the ICJ has no jurisdiction to rule on the legality of the Security Fence. The article doesn't describe the substance of the claim, but I assume that it's the same as Israel's and the US's - that the ICJ's charter probably only gives it jurisdiction in cases where both parties have agreed to be bound by the judgment.
This entire debacle is dramatic evidence of what pro-Israel opponents of the internationalization of law have been insisting for a long time - it is absurd to make elaborate procedures and to work out careful protections in crafting legal guidelines when the overwhelming majority of the world does not actually believe in the Rule of Law. Does anyone think that when the unaligned nations and the Arab block voted to send this thing to the ICJ, they were thinking about legal minutia? Of course they weren't - they were thinking the same thing as they were in Durban - here's another chance to stick it to the Jews.
People would do well to bear this in mind when pushing Israel to accept the ICC (President Clinton, Prime Minister Barak, you should have known better). Unfortunately, I expect that if this case gets thrown out by the ICJ, people are going to use it as proof that international law and its built-in legal protections work, and that Israel should therefore join the ICC. This advocacy neglects a couple of things:
Anyway, these issues aside, here's the latest from our how - do - they - say - it - with - a - straight - face department:
the Palestinian Authority... accused Israel of trying to politicise the case.
This entire debacle is dramatic evidence of what pro-Israel opponents of the internationalization of law have been insisting for a long time - it is absurd to make elaborate procedures and to work out careful protections in crafting legal guidelines when the overwhelming majority of the world does not actually believe in the Rule of Law. Does anyone think that when the unaligned nations and the Arab block voted to send this thing to the ICJ, they were thinking about legal minutia? Of course they weren't - they were thinking the same thing as they were in Durban - here's another chance to stick it to the Jews.
People would do well to bear this in mind when pushing Israel to accept the ICC (President Clinton, Prime Minister Barak, you should have known better). Unfortunately, I expect that if this case gets thrown out by the ICJ, people are going to use it as proof that international law and its built-in legal protections work, and that Israel should therefore join the ICC. This advocacy neglects a couple of things:
Anyway, these issues aside, here's the latest from our how - do - they - say - it - with - a - straight - face department:
the Palestinian Authority... accused Israel of trying to politicise the case.





