Palestinian official expects ICC to investigate "Israeli crimes"

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is likely to investigate the "crimes" committed by Israel in the Palestinian territories, a visiting Palestinian official said on Tuesday.

Saeb Erekat, the secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), told the national radio that "We have reported six files so far to the ICC that Israel's actions against Palestinians, including the demolition of houses, the construction of settlements, arrests and assassinations, and ethnic cleansing."

"There is no difference between the terrorism practiced by the Islamic State terrorists who slay necks of people in Syria and Iraq, and Israel's terrorism that sets an 18 months old baby in fire," he said, referring to Palestinian toddler Ali Dawabsha, who died with his parents after succumbing to wounds inflicted in the firebombing by suspected Jewish extremists in the West Bank last July.

He further assumed that "negotiations with Israel in their current form are no longer viable," adding "we seek to develop an international framework for these negotiations with the participation of permanent members at the UN Security Council and other key nations."

Erekat started a four-day visit to Algeria on Monday as part of bilateral political consultations, adopted during Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' last visit to Algeria in December 2014. Endit