Reacting to the admission of the Palestinian Authority (PA) as the 123rd member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Saeb Erekat, who chaired the Palestinian negotiation team with Israel, said April 1, with unabashed satisfaction: "This is a national historic day." Since the derailment of the peace talks with Israel, senior Palestinian leaders have used every opportunity to brandish the ICC weapon. Recently, following the results of Israel's March 17 elections, they have been much more vocal about it. Reacting to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election, Erekat, Jibril Rajoub and other Palestinian seniors reacted by saying that the Palestinian response would be given at ''the ICC."
Having talked with some of the Palestinian leaders, I discerned delight in their voice in view of the fact that senior Israeli defense establishment officials are apprehensive (so they claim) of what might transpire, now that the PA has become a full-fledged member of the ICC. "Why are the Israelis afraid of the ICC?" asked Rajoub. "Who's afraid of going to court? Only the felon, only the criminal. Are you war criminals? If you are, you should be worried," Palestinian officials said.
