The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced on Tuesday that the court does not have jurisdiction to investigate Palestinian Authority allegations over the 2008-2009 Gaza war.

In 2009, immediately after the IDF’s Operation Cast Lead offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, PA representative Ali Khashan submitted a declaration to Silvana Arbia, the ICC registrar, stating that the PA recognizes the court’s jurisdiction “for the purpose of identifying, prosecuting and judging the authors and accomplices of crimes committed on the territory of Palestine since July 1, 2002.”

ICC General Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said that the court cannot investigate the PA´s allegations because the court only has jurisdiction over recognized states.

The United Nations Security Council has not yet made a recommendation to recognize Palestine as a state, the Prosecutor said.

"I am not prosecutor of the world; I am prosecutor of the countries [that] accept my jurisdiction," Ocampo explained to the Dubai-based Al Arabiya news channel.

"In order to proceed," Ocampo explained, "we need the General Assembly of the UN accepting Palestine as a sovereign state."

Were Palestine to be recognized as an observer state at the UN - a goal the PA has sought to achieve - then the ICC could begin to investigate the PA´s claims, Ocampo said. (© 1995-2011, The Jerusalem Post 04/03/12)