Islamic Nations Lobbying Palestinians To Go To ICC

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The world's largest bloc of Islamic countries has been lobbying the Palestinians to join the International Criminal Court so it can prosecute Israeli politicians and military leaders for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, the bloc's leader said Saturday.

Iyad Madani said the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation strongly supports Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' plan to ask the U.N. Security Council to impose a deadline for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Madani also described the Islamic State extremist group which has captured a wide swath of Syria and Iraq as "criminal" and said he supports its destruction.

The Palestinians, under pressure from the United States and Israel, have been reluctant to become a party to the Rome Treaty that established the ICC. Abbas had been expected to sign up to the treaty during the recent 50-day Gaza war that killed more than 2,000 Palestinians, the vast majority civilians, and 70 Israelis. But he postponed an announcement, saying the Palestinians want to pursue action in the Security Council first.

"As OIC, we're lobbying him to join the Rome Treaty and open the door as a member of the ICC court to bring up charges against the individual politicians and military people in Israel who are responsible for all those atrocities, the latest of which is Gaza," Madani said.

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