Category: World

Liberia struggling, India reports 3 suspected Ebola cases

Liberian officials fear Ebola could soon spread through the capital’s largest slum after residents raided a quarantine center for suspected patients and took items including blood-stained sheets and mattresses.

The violence in the West Point slum occurred late Saturday and was led by residents angry that patients were brought to the holding center from other parts of Monrovia, Tolbert Nyenswah, assistant health minister, said Sunday. It was not immediately clear how many patients had been at the center.

West Point residents went on a “looting spree,” stealing items from the clinic that were likely infected, said a senior police official, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the press. The residents took medical equipment and mattresses and sheets that had bloodstains, he said.

“All between the houses you could see people fleeing with items looted from the patients,” the official said, adding that he now feared “the whole of West Point will be infected.”

Some of the looted items were visibly stained with blood, vomit and excrement, said Richard Kieh, who lives in the area.

The incident creates a new challenge for Liberian health officials who were already struggling to contain the outbreak.

Liberian police restored order to the West Point neighborhood Sunday. Sitting on land between the Montserrado River and the Atlantic Ocean, West Point is home to at least 50,000 people, according to a 2012 survey.

Distrust of government runs high in West Point, with rumors regularly circulating that the government plans to clear the slum out entirely.

Though there had been talk of putting West Point under quarantine should Ebola break out there, assistant health minister Nyenswah said Sunday no such step has been taken. “West Point is not yet quarantined as being reported,” he said.

Ebola has killed 1,145 people in West Africa, including 413 in Liberia, according to the World Health Organization.

Other countries across Africa are grappling to prevent Ebola’s spread with travel restrictions, suspensions of airline flights, public health messages and quarantines.

Nigeria appears to be making progress in containing the disease. The country has 12 confirmed cases of Ebola, all of which stem from direct contact with the Liberian-American man who flew to Nigeria late last month while ill. He infected several health workers before dying.

Since then three others have died in Nigeria from Ebola, according to figures released over the weekend.

One Nigerian doctor has survived the disease and was sent home Saturday night and five others confirmed with Ebola have almost fully recovered, said the Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu in a statement Saturday night.

The most important part of containing the disease is to track all those who had contact with Ebola patients and to closely monitor them in order to quarantine if they show any symptoms. Nigeria had 242 people under surveillance but now 61 have been cleared and released, after completing the 21-day quarantine period without showing any signs of Ebola, said the health ministry.

In East Africa, Kenya will bar passengers traveling from the three West African countries badly hit by the Ebola outbreak. The suspension is effective midnight Tuesday for all ports of entry for people traveling from or through Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, said Kenya’s Health Ministry. Nigeria was not included in the ban, which also allows entry to health professionals and Kenyans returning from those countries.

Following the government’s announcement Saturday, Kenya Airways said it would suspend flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Kenya Airways, a major transport provider in Africa flies more than 70 flights a week to West Africa.

Several airlines have already suspended flights to Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, including British Airways, Emirates Airlines, Arik Air and ASKY Airlines.

Officials in Cameroon, which borders Nigeria, announced Friday it would suspend all flights from all four Ebola-affected countries. Korean Air announced on Thursday it would temporarily halt its service to Kenya despite the fact there are no cases of Ebola in the country.

Meanwhile in India, three persons from Ebola-affected Nigeria, who arrived here Saturday morning, have been admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi for screening and treatment if required. The three Nigerians, aged 79, 37 and 4 years had fever and their tests were being done at the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi, an official release said here.

In addition to this, a 32-year-old Indian from Durg in Chhattisgarh who returned from Nigeria has been admitted to a hospital in Bhilai. His samples are also being tested at NCDC, the release said. WHO has said air travel, even from Ebola-affected countries, is low-risk for transmission of the disease.

Source: Fox/TNN

Oz leader’s comments on Scotland ‘foolish, hypocritical, offensive’

Alex Salmond, the First Minister for Scotland, has said that comments by Tony Abbott, the Australian Prime Minster, that the world would not “be helped by an independent Scotland” are “foolish, hypocritical and offensive”.

Mr Abbott who is on a visit to London told the Times newspaper that it was “hard to see how the world would be helped by an independent Scotland.”

“I think the people who would like to see the break-up of the United Kingdom are not the friends of justice, the friends of freedom, and the countries that cheer at the prospect are not the countries whose company one would like to keep,” he said.

Scottish voters will go to the polls on 18 September and will be asked the question “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

Alex Salmond jumped on Mr. Abbotts’ comments and told BBC Scotland they were hypocritical and “offensive to the Scottish people” considering the benefits Australia has got since becoming independent from Britain after the Second World War.

“They are foolish, actually, because of the way he said it. To say the people of Scotland who supported independence weren’t friends of freedom or justice, I mean, the independence process is about freedom and justice,” he said.

He added that even the British government could recognize the need for a democratic vote on the issue and that the referendum was a “model of democratic conduct”.

The Scottish premiere also said that Abbott was gaffe prone and had put his foot in it, with his comments.

One of his previous gaffes involved referring to Canada as Canadia during a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa in June.

Source: RT

Dutch man who saved a Jew during Holocaust gives medal back

Henk Zanoli Objects To Israel’s Actions in Gaza

A Dutch man who risked his life to save a Jew during the Holocaust gave back a medal he received for his actions in order to protest Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Henk Zanoli, 91, returned his medal to the Israeli embassy in The Hague after a member of his family died in an Israeli strike in Gaza, the Haaretz daily reported Friday.

Zanoli and his mother were recognized by the State of Israel and its Holocaust commemoration authority, Yad Vashem, in 2011 for hiding a Jewish child in their home from 1943 to 1945.

A great-niece of Zanoli is a Dutch diplomat whose husband was born in the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. Last month an Israeli bomb killed several members of his family, Haaretz reported.

“It is particularly shocking and tragic that today, four generations on, our family is faced with the murder of our kin in Gaza. Murder carried out by the State of Israel,” Zanoli wrote in a letter to the embassy explaining his decision to return the medal. “For me to hold on to the honour granted by the State of Israel, under these circumstances, will be both an insult to the memory of my courageous mother who risked her life,” and to relatives in mourning in Gaza, he added.

Source: JTA

Read more: http://forward.com/articles/204170/dutch-man-who-saved-jews-during-the-holocaust-retu/#ixzz3AdHXvsAr

Enemies of West will cheer Scottish independence – Oz PM

The Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, has warned that Scottish independence would be “cheered” by the enemies of the West in the most outspoken foreign attack in the campaign so far.

“As a friend of Britain, as an observer from afar, it’s hard to see how the world would be helped by an independent Scotland,” Abbott said in an exclusive interview for The Times, London.

“I think that the people who would like to see the break-up of the United Kingdom are not the friends of justice, not the friends of freedom, and that the countries that would cheer at the prospect of the break-up with the United
Kingdom are not the countries whose company one would like to keep,” Abbott added.

“Independence seems to be working well for Australia,” responded Gail Lythgoe, a spokeswoman for the official pro-independence campaign, Yes Scotland. “The decision about Scotland’s future is one for the people of Scotland to make – a point that even UK Prime Minister David Cameron asserts,” Lythgoe said.

“After a Yes vote, Scotland will take her place as a normal and valued member of the international community – just as Australia did when she gained independence at the turn of the century.”

Abbott, who spent two years at Oxford University, is no stranger to controversy and has previously insulted native Australian aborigines, housewives and immigrants despite the fact he moved to the country himself as a child.

Abbott’s comments on Scottish independence follow those by US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who both gave veiled support for the continuation of the United Kingdom as a whole following approaches from Downing Street. But the Australian Prime Minister’s comments represent the most explicit rejection of Scottish independence yet made by an international leader.

Scots will go to the polls on September 18, and will be asked one question, “Should Scotland become an independent country?”

Source: RIA Novosti

Russell Brand calls for Israel boycott

Russel Brand has gone one step further in his condemnation of the Israel-Gaza conflict than simply critiquing the way various media outlets have approached coverage.

Now, the comedian is urging banks, pension funds and other big businesses to sever investment ties with Israel, or any deals that he feels “facilitate the oppression of people in Gaza”.

Using Barclays as an example, he said the bank manages “the portfolios of an Israeli defence company called Elbit, which makes the drones that bomb Gaza.”

“The message they give us is the exact opposite of the reality, they’re acting like they’re part of our community,” he said during his new episode of The Trews, which you can watch below.

“But if we’re aware of the reality of what they do, then we have the power to influence them.”

He went on to encourage his viewers to sign a petition on the Avaaz campaign website, to put pressure on companies such as Barclays, computer company HP, security giants G4S, pension fund ABP and heavy machinery Caterpillar brand to rethink their investments.

So far, it has amassed almost 1.7million signatures of support.

“In the wake of the terrible violence unfolding in Israel-Palestine, we, citizens from around the world, are deeply concerned about your companies’ continued investment in companies and projects that finance illegal settlements and the oppressive occupation of the Palestinian people,” the mission statement on the petition reads.

“17 EU countries recently issued warnings to their citizens against doing business or investing in illegal Israeli settlements. Given those legal considerations, you now have the opportunity to withdraw investments and respect international law. This is a chance to be on the right side of history.”

Some of the firms listed in the petition had previously spoken of their decision to maintain financial ties in Israel.

HP claimed that “respecting human rights is a core value” of their business and said that they used Israeli checkpoints to allow people to “get to their place of work or to carry out their business in a faster and safer way”.

Meanwhile, Caterpillar said that while it “shares the world’s concern over unrest in the Middle East”, it doesn’t believe it has “neither the legal right nor the means to police individual use of its equipment”.

Brand’s comments come after the business secretary Vince Cable threatened to halt 12 export licences to Israel if the violence in Gaza resumes, including components for combat aircraft, tanks and radar systems.

The British government have, however, exported £42million of military equipment to Israel since 2010.

Source: The Independent

Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos dies in plane crash

A private jet reportedly carrying Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos crashed Wednesday in the city of Santos, a member of Campos’ political party said.

Brazil’s Globo News has reported Campos has died, though the site did not say how the information was obtained. Friends and colleagues told the BBC they are “very worried” as they have not made contact with Campos since the crash. The Jornal de Hoje reported bad weather in the region, and that the plane also carried Campos’ wife and son.

Witnesses said smoke is billowing from the crash site in a residential area of Santos. A police spokeswoman told the Agence France Presse there were “fatalities but we still do not have a number confirmed.” Firefighters told the BBC there were 10 “victims” but have not determined whether they’re injured or dead.

Guilherme Zeinum, a resident near Santos, told Brazilian news site G1 what he saw of the crash. “I heard a loud noise, followed by an explosion. I went to the window and I could just see black smoke,” he said. “I heard a noise like a turbine. It took a little while, about 10 minutes before I heard sirens heading towards the site.”

According to an Air Force statement, the plane lost contact with air traffic control while preparing to land. The Cessna 560XL plane had taken off from Rio de Janeiro’s domestic airport and was heading to the city of Guaruja, near Santos.

Campos’ running mate, Marina Silva, was not on board the plane, a source inside the political party told Reuters.

Campos had been running for president for the Brazilian Socialist Party, with the election due to take place in October.

He was competing for president against Aécio Neves and against Dilma Rousseff. Most of his electors were against Dilma so they more than probably will vote for Aécio, probably finishing the 10 years government of the communist party known as “Workers Party”.

The 49-year-old Campos had been a former ally to Rousseff before gunning for the presidency himself.

Obama plans new sanctions if Russia delivers humanitarian aid

In case Moscow proceeds with its plans to deliver humanitarian aid without the authorization from the authorities in Kiev further sanctions are likely to be imposed in regard to Russia.

Russia’s planned humanitarian aid for the embattled southeastern regions in Ukraine must is possible only with the consent from the authorities in Kiev, the White House said in a statement following President Barack Obama’s telephone talks with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Monday.

“The [US] President and [Italian] Prime Minister considered the developing situation and reiterated that any intervention under the guise of “humanitarian” assistance must be provided only with the formal, express consent and authorization of the Government of Ukraine,” the statement said.

In case Moscow proceeds with its plans to deliver humanitarian aid to the war-torn Ukraine without the authorization from the authorities in Kiev further sanctions are likely to be imposed in regard to Russia, according to the statement.

“They [Obama and Renzi] agreed that any Russian steps not in accordance with these requirements would be unacceptable, would violate international law, and would lead to additional sanctions,” the statement added.

In a telephone conversation with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Monday, President Vladimir Putin said Russia in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross would send a humanitarian convoy to Ukraine.

Meanwhile Moscow’s calls for the evacuation of children from eastern Ukraine are not being answered, Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said. He stated that over 1,200 orphans have been abandoned in the region, which is under continuous shelling from Kiev troops.

Churkin spoke at the UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting in New York on Friday.

The UN diplomats assembled to discuss a UN report on human rights in Ukraine. He blasted the document while conveying that children have had to remain in Donetsk after Kiev’s forces intervened into the region. According to Moscow, there are 1,223 orphans in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

“It seems that UN philanthropists believe that children rather thrive under fire,” Churkin stated. A bus carrying a group of 16 orphans seeking shelter was stopped at a Russian checkpoint in June.

Due to the ongoing fighting in the region, they were transferred to a Donetsk refugee camp, where they spent the night and were sent back to Ukraine on Kiev’s request. According to local authorities, an act stating that both sides had no objections was signed at the time.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has also stated its readiness to support the humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

Swiss President and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Didier Burkhalter welcomed the ICRC announcement that it would step up activities for the affected population in south-eastern Ukrainian regions and deploy additional teams there.

Russia, Egypt discuss Gaza

Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to meet with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah Sisi, in the Russian resort city of Sochi to discuss a wide range of political and economic issues, including the ongoing Gaza conflict, Egypt’s food deliveries to Russia and Russian military exports to Egypt, according to the Kremlin.

“The discussion will address urgent matters, linked to the development of Russian-Egyptian relations in various spheres,” a Kremlin official said.

The leaders are expected to study in great depth a wide range of bilateral economic issues, such as the creation of a free trade zone between Egypt and the Russia-led Customs Union, which also includes Belarus and Kazakhstan.

“The last year’s trade turnover was roughly at $3 billion. In the first half of this year, [this figure] almost doubled [some $2.5 billion],” the Kremlin said.

Following its embargo on agricultural products from the United States and the European Union, Russia has been looking for alternatives, and Egypt said it was willing to boost its fruits and vegetables exports. In return, Russia could profit from Egypt’s high demand for wheat.

Moscow and Cairo are also discussing deliveries of Russia’s high-tech military products, including 24 Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jets, as well as its Kornet anti-tank missile systems, attack helicopters Kamov Ka-25, Mil Mi-28 and Mi-25.

Russia and Egypt, which is brokering an end to the ongoing Gaza armed conflict, have been keeping in touch on the situation in this highly volatile region, with the Russian president praising Cairo’s efforts toward a long-term armistice between the Israeli and the Palestinians.

Last week, President Putin in a phone conversation with Abdel Sisi lauded Egypt for mediating negotiations between the warring parties. Both leaders agreed to “encourage a nationwide dialogue, aimed at settling contentious issues through political means,” according to the Kremlin.

Source: RIA Novosti

French lawyer files complaint against Israel at ICC

A French lawyer said on Friday that he had filed a complaint on behalf of the Palestinian justice minister at the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing Israel’s military of having carried out “war crimes” in the Gaza Strip.

More than 800 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive in Gaza, launched on July 8 in response to Hamas militants firing rockets into the Jewish state.

The complaint targets “war crimes committed by the Israeli army in June and July 2014 in Palestine” in the context of the operation known as Protective Edge, Gilles Devers told reporters.

“Israel, the occupying power, is carrying out a military operation which in principle and form violates the basis of international law,” he said. “Every day new crimes are committed and over 80 percent of the victims are civilians. Children, women, hospitals, UN schools… the Israeli soldiers respect nothing.

“This is a military attack against the Palestinian population.”

The Israeli offensive has left more than 5,200 Palestinians injured, according to emergency services in Gaza, and 33 Israeli soldiers and two civilians have died, too.

The Palestinian Authority, which has non-member observer state status at the United Nations, has not yet signed up to the Hague-based ICC, due to what Devers said were “political” quarrels over the Palestinians’ status.

But according to Devers, the complaint is still valid.

The UN Human Rights Council is launching a probe into Israel’s offensive in Gaza, with rights chief Navi Pillay saying the Jewish state’s military actions could amount to war crimes.

Source: AFP

Snowden granted 3-yr residence permit in Russia – lawyer

Edward Snowden has received a residence permit in Russia, which is valid for three years, starting on August 1, the former NSA contractor’s lawyer announced.

Snowden’s life in Russia: ‘Much happier than be unfairly tried in US’

“On the first of August he received a three-year residence permit,” lawyer Anatoly Kucherena told reporters.

He added that Snowden had not asked for political asylum.

“He will be able to travel freely within the country and go abroad. He’ll be able to stay abroad for not longer than three months,” Kucherena said.

The former NSA contractor will be able to apply for the Russian citizenship in five years.

“A foreign citizen, who got a residence permit, will certainly be able to apply for citizenship,” Kucherena said.

Edward Snowden has not yet made up his mind whether he wants Russian citizenship.

“By all means he is homesick,” his lawyer said. “It was hard for him to find himself far from home, especially for the first time. Of course, in the future Edward will make up his mind on whether to stay in Russia and apply for citizenship or to leave for the US. He hasn’t done this yet.”

Edward Snowden was granted temporary asylum in Russia a year ago. It expired July 31.

He left the US and went to Hong Kong in May 2013, from where he leaked confidential files to mass media concerning the NSA’s overwhelming surveillance.

Snowden then planned to seek refuge in Cuba, but found himself stranded at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, after his American passport was annulled by US authorities.

Kucherena dismissed a letter from the US Prosecutor General’s office to the Russian Ministry of Justice as insufficient grounds for handing Snowden over to the US.

“There has been no request which complies with international law,” the lawyer said.

If Edward Snowden does one day travel back to the US, it’s not going to be extradition, his lawyer assured.

“No extradition is possible under Russian law,” he said. “He has not committed any crime. He faces no charges in Russia.”

Snowden’s security in Russia is being ensured by a private firm, Kucherena said.

“He’s without state protection and he can’t possibly have it. To arrange state protection you have to go through many bureaucratic procedures.”

Kucherena also told reporters that Snowden was satisfied with his job in Russia, as he was able to continue his profession and work in the sphere of computer technology. The former NSA contractor’s Russian salary is adequate, the lawyer added.

The lawyer said Snowden will hold a press conference in Russia as soon as it will be possible. – RT.COM

American vice president thinks Africa is one country

Vice President Joe Biden has made yet another flub. During his speech at the United States-Africa Summit yesterday, Vice President Biden referred to Africa as a “nation.”

Africa is, of course, a 54-country continent.In reference to Africa joining the status of the most lucrative nations in the world, Vice President Biden stated “there is no reason the nation of Africa cannot and should not join the ranks of the world’s most prosperous nations in the near term-in the decades ahead.”

The Ukrainian gas company that Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, just joined is a growing conglomerate that has been compared to “Exxon in its early days.”

Burisma Holdings announced Tuesday that the younger Biden will join the company as the head of its legal unit.

Burisma is a private oil and gas company founded in 2002, under joint activity agreements with Ukrainian state-owned producers, and quickly grew to become the largest private gas producer in Ukraine. The company’s average daily output stood at 10.5 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day in September 2013, and could double that figure within two years. All of the company’s gas is sold to industrial customers in Ukraine.

Moscow slams false reports of military build-up

Moscow slammed NATO and Pentagon claims that Russia is amassing military near the border with Ukraine calling them unsubstantiated, according to a statement made by a Ministry of Defense spokesman.

“In Russia’s Ministry of Defense such statements only raise sympathy for the speakers of the Pentagon, the US State Department and NATO. It seems the people are serious, but they have to constantly improvise during their speeches to somehow add seriousness to their statements,” said Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the ministry Major General, on Wednesday.

Pentagon spokesman, Rear Admiral John Kirby, told reporters on Tuesday that Russia has at least 10,000 troops on Ukraine’s border.

Following this, on Wednesday, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu stated that Russia has already amassed around 20,000 combat-ready troops on the border.

Konashenkov said that “we would like to explain to the Pentagon and NATO officials that it is impossible to perform such a manoeuver with thousands of soldiers with weapons and military equipment in such a short time, all the more to keep it secret from OSCE observers now in the region.”

The regular “tales” of Russian troops amassing near the border with Ukraine are reminiscent “of an auction selling soap bubbles, where the main goal is to set the price higher before the bubble bursts.”

This is the reason Pentagon and NATO figures vary so much, he explained.

Russia has conducted a series of war games since the start of the crisis in Ukraine. The latest five-day military exercise started on Monday in Russia’s south at the Ashuluk test site near Astrakhan, more than 700 kilometers away from the Ukrainian conflict zone.

The tests were scheduled last year, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defense.

The Major General pointed out that the representatives of the US and NATO, which have been inspecting the border under the ‘Open Skies’ mission, “consistently cannot find” any evidence of a military build-up.

“At the same time, a grouping of 25,000 Ukrainian military forces leading military actions near the border with Russia, for some reason, does not cause any concern in Europe or the United States.”

The Russian Defense Ministry plans to open special accounts in social networks and video hosting resources so that the US State Department and the Pentagon will be able to receive unbiased information about Russian army’s actions, spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry Igor Konashenkov told reporters on Wednesday.

“To give aid to officials from the Pentagon and the US State Department and to rule out insinuations about “a Russian military threat,” Russian Defense Ministry is mulling creation of special accounts in social networks and video hosting resources to bring unbiased information about actions taken by Russian Armed Forces to representatives of the US intelligence community,” he said.

Source: RT

‘God is angry with Liberia, corruption, homosexuals’

More than 100 Bishops, Pastors, General Overseers, Prophets, Evangelists and other Ministers of the Gospel, under the auspices of the Liberia Council of Churches (LCC), converged Wednesday at the edifice of the St. Stephen Episcopal Church in Monrovia, Liberia to deliberate on the Church’s role in and response to the Ebola epidemic.

The meeting was called by Archbishop Jonathan B.B. Hart, President of the LCC, who was also recently elected and enthroned Archbishop of the Internal Province of West Africa.

The men of God, mainstream Episcopalians and non-denominational evangelicals alike, unanimously endorsed the following resolution:

That God is angry with Liberia, and that Ebola is a plague. Liberians have to pray and seek God’s forgiveness over the corruption and immoral acts (such as homosexualism, etc.) that continue to penetrate our society. As Christians, we must repent and seek God’s forgiveness.

That a three-day indoor fast and prayer across the nation be observed, commencing next Wednesday, August 6th, and concluding Friday, August 8th.

That an inter-denominational committee be constituted to present said resolution to government.
That if government is in agreement, the Republic of Liberia be locked up for three days of fast and prayer. All movement should be restricted during those three days. People should stay at home for three days of silence, fasting and prayer.

Palestinians demand ICC war crimes investigation against Israel

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said there was clear evidence of war crimes by Israel during its offensive in Gaza as he met International Criminal Court prosecutors on Tuesday to push for an investigation.

Malki visited The Hague shortly after Israel and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement that dominates Gaza entered a 72-hour truce mediated by Egypt in an effort to secure an extended ceasefire.

Last week, the United Nations launched an inquiry into human rights violations and crimes alleged to have been committed by Israel during its offensive, given the far higher toll of civilian deaths and destruction on the Palestinian side.

“Everything that has happened in the last 28 days is clear evidence of war crimes committed by Israel, amounting to crimes against humanity,” Malki said. “There is no difficulty for us to show or build the case. Evidence is there for people to see and collect. Israel is in clear violation of international law.”

As neither Israel nor the Palestinians are ICC members, the court lacks jurisdiction over Gaza. This could be granted by a U.N. Security Council resolution, but Israel’s main ally, the United States, would probably veto any such proposal.

Malki told reporters that the Palestinian Authority (PA) wanted to give the ICC jurisdiction to investigate alleged crimes by both sides in the Gaza conflagration and that he had discussed a timeline with prosecutors to join the court.

Unless the Palestinians do so, no investigation is possible.

Malki said the PA’s current status at the United Nations, upgraded to “non-member state” from “entity” by a vote of the General Assembly in 2012, qualified it to become an ICC member and a decision on whether to apply could happen “very soon”.

But he pointed to possible complications by saying this could go ahead only with the cooperation of Hamas, which is shunned by the West as a designated terrorist group and is a strong political rival of the Western-backed PA, which governs only in parts of the West Bank not occupied by Israel.

By joining the court, the Palestinian territories would automatically open themselves up to war crimes both committed by adversaries and by themselves within their borders.

“We want really to be assured that if we undertake that decision (for ICC membership), then all Palestinian factions adhere to that decision and know in advance its consequences and ramifications,” Malki said.

“If it (includes) action committed by Palestinian groups (against Israelis), then we are ready to accept that. But nothing compares to the atrocities, the carnage, committed by Israel,” he added, accusing Israel of destroying schools, hospitals and water grids in Gaza during its incursion.

Source: Reuters