In brief: accession of Palestine to the International Criminal Court (ICC)

The West Bank and Gaza have been under Israeli occupation since 1967. They have enjoyed a limited degree of self-government since the 1990s, but they continue to be known as the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs). However, ‘Palestine’ was accepted as a non-member observer state in the United Nations in 2012, and has now acceded to the Rome Statute – the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court. This is a controversial move, not least because of strong opposition from Israel. There has been some suggestion that the ICC might open an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza during 2014.