Palestine says decision to join ICC 'irreversible'

Palestine's decision to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) was irreversible, a top Palestinian official said Sunday.

"All powers on earth will never bring the clock back," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Voice of Palestine radio, in an interview, which was cited by Xinhua in its report.

Erekat added that the Palestinian leadership was heading towards becoming a member in the ICC.

He accused the Israeli government of ignoring all international laws and conventions, adding, "Israel counts on the logic of arrogance of power and the protection by the American Congress."

The veteran politician warned that if Israel continued its policies of expanding settlements and withholding Palestine's tax revenue dues, "we will seriously reconsider our political and security ties with Israel".

Meanwhile, he said that the central council of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) "is scheduled to convene by the end of February to discuss the future of the ties with Israel".

"The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) was established in order to take the Palestinian people from the status of being under occupation to the status of having independence and having a state," said Erekat.

After receiving Palestine's request to join the ICC, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that the state of Palestine would become a member of the ICC by April 1.

However, the US considered the Palestinian move "an unconstructive way to go ahead in the Middle East peace process".

Israel last month, had called for cutting funding for the ICC over the tribunal's decision to probe possible Israeli war crimes during last year's war with Hamas in Gaza.

In response to the Palestinian move to join international treaties, mainly the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Israel withheld the tax revenue it collects from Palestinian imports.

Erekat had earlier said that the ties between Palestine and Israel would never return to what it used to be before signing up to join international agencies and treaties, mainly the ICC.