All Policy Analysis by Alexander Loengarov

The current cycle of legal actions involving Israel is unprecedented in scope and politicization, but governments are still better off engaging with the process and lodging their objections there than dismissing it outright.

Given the region’s fraught history and piecemeal legal frameworks, the parties and their allies should focus more on the political, economic, and security concerns underlying their legal disputes.

The legal details of recent preliminary rulings presage the difficulties that the ICC will likely encounter while investigating the Israeli-Palestinian scene, highlighting the broader dilemma of importing political conflicts into the courtroom.

The question of whether the ICC is able to proceed with cases against Israeli and Palestinian officials may hinge on fuzzy international legal criteria and competing arguments by sympathetic governments.