WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement and the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates have denounced remarks by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has no jurisdiction over an investigation into the Zionist regime’s war crimes against Palestinians.
“The German president’s comment about the lack of jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court to hold the Occupation (the Zionist regime) accountable for its crimes is a violation of international law and a flagrant bias in favor of the regime and its aggressive policy against our Palestinian nation,” Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassem, said in a statement released on Thursday.
Separately, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the German president’s remarks as “departure from the rules of international law, and interference in the work of the ICC as well as its rulings, and the decision of its chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to launch a formal inquiry into Israeli war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories within its jurisdiction.”
Back in early March, Bensouda announced in a statement the launch of a war crimes investigation into the Palestinian territories, which have been under the Zionist regime’s occupation since 1967.
She said her inquiry will be conducted “independently, impartially and objectively, without fear or favor.”
    
European Court Rejects
Arafat’s Death Probe
 
In another development, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has dismissed a case brought by the widow and daughter of Yasser Arafat that sought to reopen an investigation into the iconic Palestinian leader’s death.
Suha El Kodwa Arafat and Zahwa El Kodwa Arafat, both French citizens, filed their case with the Strasbourg-based European court after French courts dismissed their claims that Arafat had been the victim of premeditated murder.
Arafat’s family had claimed they had been refused their right to a fair hearing, in particular a refusal of their request for an additional expert report on his death.
In a ruling issued on Thursday, the ECHR said there had been no infringement on the right to a fair hearing and the complaint filed by the family was “manifestly ill-founded”.
Three judges said that after reviewing the case, “at all stages of the proceedings, the applicants, assisted by their lawyers, had been able to exercise their rights effectively”.
Arafat died in a hospital near France in November 2004 after developing stomach pains while at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement and the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates have denounced remarks by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has no jurisdiction over an investigation into the Zionist regime’s war crimes against Palestinians.
“The German president’s comment about the lack of jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court to hold the Occupation (the Zionist regime) accountable for its crimes is a violation of international law and a flagrant bias in favor of the regime and its aggressive policy against our Palestinian nation,” Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassem, said in a statement released on Thursday.
Separately, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the German president’s remarks as “departure from the rules of international law, and interference in the work of the ICC as well as its rulings, and the decision of its chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to launch a formal inquiry into Israeli war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories within its jurisdiction.”
Back in early March, Bensouda announced in a statement the launch of a war crimes investigation into the Palestinian territories, which have been under the Zionist regime’s occupation since 1967.
She said her inquiry will be conducted “independently, impartially and objectively, without fear or favor.”

European Court Rejects
Arafat’s Death Probe

In another development, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has dismissed a case brought by the widow and daughter of Yasser Arafat that sought to reopen an investigation into the iconic Palestinian leader’s death.
Suha El Kodwa Arafat and Zahwa El Kodwa Arafat, both French citizens, filed their case with the Strasbourg-based European court after French courts dismissed their claims that Arafat had been the victim of premeditated murder.
Arafat’s family had claimed they had been refused their right to a fair hearing, in particular a refusal of their request for an additional expert report on his death.
In a ruling issued on Thursday, the ECHR said there had been no infringement on the right to a fair hearing and the complaint filed by the family was “manifestly ill-founded”.
Three judges said that after reviewing the case, “at all stages of the proceedings, the applicants, assisted by their lawyers, had been able to exercise their rights effectively”.
Arafat died in a hospital near France in November 2004 after developing stomach pains while at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The official cause of death was a large haemorrhagic stroke, but no autopsy was carried out and senior Palestinian leaders withheld his medical records.
Palestinians officials have repeatedly accused the Zionist regime of masterminding what they say was an assassination of their leader.
In 2011, Arafat’s widow Suha handed over some of the Palestinian leader’s personal effects to a reporter from Al Jazeera who passed them to the Institute of Applied Radiophysics in Lausanne for tests.%MCEPASTEBIN%