The Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ministry today summoned an Austrian diplomat over Austria’s observations on the International Criminal Court’s territorial jurisdiction in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Acting on Foreign Minister Riyad Malki’s instructions, Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Amal Jadou summoned head of the Representative Office of Austria to Palestine Astrid Wein to the Foreign Ministry in Ramallah over the legal observations submitted by the Austrian government to the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court on the question of the Court’s territorial jurisdiction in the occupied Palestinian territories, which comprise the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
In its observations to the Court on the question of the Court’s territorial jurisdiction in Palestine, Austria stated that although Palestine deposited its instrument of accession to the Rome Statute, Austria stated that it, “like on third of the other ICC State Parties, does not recognize Palestine as a sovereign state and has not established diplomatic relations with Palestine at the bilateral level.”
Jadou expressed the Palestinian leadership’s dissatisfaction and resentment of Austria’s position, and stressed that the observations constitute a dangerous precedent in the existing Palestinian-Austrian bilateral relations, especially after Austria upgraded the level of Palestinian representation from general delegation to the level of a mission in 2011.
She demanded that the Austrian Foreign Ministry submit an official explanation on the observations.
