Well it had to happen- the Palestinian Authority's President Mahmoud Abbas finally signed documents officially committing the PA to joining the ICC(International Criminal Court) which means that his state can pursue charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed by Israeli officials and military personnel.

Despite PM "Bibi" Netanyahu's huffing and puffing, this move puts his nation in a virtual legal cleft stick-if and when ICC investigators turn up on his doorstep, he can either refuse to cooperate with them- in which case such a move will be widelty seen as a de facto admission of guilt(full disclosure here: my own country's(UK) Army is under ICC investigation for alleged "war crimes" committed during the Iraqi war) or it can cooperate with them and the same result will occur- heads I win, tails you lose".

Ironically enough even though Israel per se has not signed or ratified the ICC Convention, Shurat Ha Din , an Israeli public interest law firm has announced that it will seek to pursue Palestinian leaders on war crimes and crimes against humanity at the ICC.

Watch this space for details folks!

Terry