Palestinian NGOs vow to continue cooperation with ICC after US sanctions
Three Palestinian human rights groups that had U.S. sanctions imposed on them for asking the International Criminal Court to investigate the Zionist entity’s atrocity crimes in Gaza, plan to continue their cooperation with the war crimes tribunal.
The groups are the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and Al-Haq, based in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The sanctions were posted on the U.S. Treasury Department’s website on Thursday and include blocking any provisions of funds, goods or services to them.
Palestinian lawyer Raji Sourani, who runs the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, called the sanctions “shameful” on Friday and said he would not be deterred.
“This is our reaction: business as usual, we are just in the court doing what we have to do,” Sourani told reporters outside the ICC after meeting its deputy prosecutor.
The ICC office of the prosecutor meets regularly with NGOs that have submitted legal filings to the court.
The US move came days after Washington revoked visas for Palestinian Authority officials, barring them from traveling to New York for next month’s UN General Assembly. That decision followed announcements by several countries, including France, Canada, and Australia, that they would recognize a Palestinian state during the UN conference.
