MIA SWART: What may be gained from Pretoria’s ICJ case against Israel

In 2014, shortly after the destruction and bloodshed of Operation Protective Edge, I met veteran human rights activist Raji Sourani in his office in Gaza. We spoke about the latest Gaza war and the fact that Palestine had become a state party to the International Criminal Court (ICC) just a few months earlier.

I asked Sourani, co-founder of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, whether he thought Palestine’s membership would make a tangible difference to the occupation and Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip. He said he did not think so, but membership of the ICC was necessary because human rights activists have to pursue a multipronged strategy. ..