As of late, the former president of the U.S., Donald Trump, came up with a plan to “clean out” the Gaza Strip and have the Palestinian people move. These efforts have brought about international concern. According to legal experts, any displacement of over two million Palestinians would cause most of the U.S. officials who perpetrate this act to be subject to arrest warrants and prosecution at the level of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

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Possible Legal Consequences

Forced population transfer is considered a serious crime under international law, and the ICC has been established primarily to mete out punishment to individuals guilty of its commission. Although the U.S. is not a party to the Rome Statute creating the ICC, the court may issue warrants against U.S. citizens if any acts of prosecution are carried out with reasonable grounds to believe that certain persons have committed crimes against the authority of the ICC within its jurisdiction areas.

The textbook interpretations suggest that U.S. officials involved in the planning or carrying of such displacement could come under scrutiny under Article 25(3)(c) of the Rome Statute for aiding and abetting these crimes. Moreover, under both customary and statutory international law, some states including Belgium, Spain, and South Africa allow prosecution of war crimes no matter where they are committed so that U.S. officials could find themselves with arrest warrants in other countries’ courts.

International Reactions

All this shows how far the international community has gone to oppose any proposal that would see the forced displacement of Palestinians. French President Emmanuel Macron is quoted as saying, in remarks received here, that ‘there are things which it is better to do politically than real estate operations.’ A statement from more than 350 rabbis and entertainment personalities declared the plan to be ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘immoral.’

Jordan’s King Abdullah II continued the rejection of the proposal, a signoclastic view not known in regional attitudes. The United Nations warned that any forced displacement would amount to a war crime, while UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese cautioned against a potential mass ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

Conclusion

In fact, the recommendation of relocating the Palestinians from Gaza poses significant legal challenges, as well as international condemnation. U.S. officials who even consider doing such acts are exposed to the possibility of litigation in international tribunals, and could be arrested in some countries under the universal jurisdiction laws. These events clearly point out the necessity to follow international norms and to look for diplomatic solutions to more complicated world issues.