New Hope? Palestine Voted Member of Interpol
By: Michaela Schrum/Arab America Contributing Writer
The International Police Organization or (INTERPOL) whose latest meeting took place in Beijing, China voted last Wednesday to include Palestine fully in the international organization. Palestinian membership passed with a secret ballot vote of 75 to 24 and with 34 abstentions.
As an INTERPOL member, Palestine now has the ability to receive information from other police agencies around the world and the criminal activity that they share through INTERPOL databases. The new member will also be allowed to issue red notices which will alert INTERPOL members to criminal activity. These “red notices” act as international warrants for the extradition of criminal escapees. These warrants are technically non-binding. This creates a liaison between the police forces in participating nation states and the International community, creating communication assistance.
For example, in the hypothetical event of a Palestinian murder at the hands of an Israeli official, Palestine could officially, through INTERPOL, ask Israel to hand the Israeli official over to Palestinian authorities and issue a notice to other nations about the crime. Once this notice goes into the INTERPOL system, it is difficult to erase and can be read by any participating member nation.
Regardless, this is a huge step forward in the fight towards Palestinian statehood. In an exclusive interview with Arab America, Said Arikat, the Washington Bureau Chief at Al Quds Daily Newspaper said that this victory is a big event for Palestine. Since becoming an observing party at the United Nations in 2012, Palestine has continued its work to participate in as many international councils and assemblies as possible. This, Arikat argues, helps Palestine establish legitimacy and will eventually help in the fight towards international recognition as a sovereign state by the United Nations and by nations across the globe. Arikat continued: “The more UN committees you join, the more the state of Palestine will be recognized and treated as a state”
Arikat also expressed hope that INTERPOL membership will lead to membership in other organizations like the International Criminal Court. Arikat believes that this is one of the next steps moving forward as this will give Palestine the right to claim “crimes against humanity” and war crimes as they occur.
But what else does Palestine need to do in order to become a recognized country? Marc Simon, an Associate Professor and the Acting Chair of the Political Science Department at Bowling Green State University, stated that the standard method for a country to become an internationally recognized state is to get the recommendation of the United Nations Security Council along with a two-thirds vote in the UN general assembly.
With this, the country must have the following criteria: a permanent population, defined borders, a government, and they must be capable of relations with other states. “Palestine is doing what a lot of other potential states do, and that is to make progress on the criteria that it can control… Palestine has paid a lot of attention to its relations with other states. That is why it is important for Palestine to get membership in international organizations as a state member, such as the recent news about joining Interpol”.
Simon also states that the more states that recognize Palestine (so far 122 countries recognize Palestine), the more like;y that Israeli occupation is de-legitimised in the international community placing more political pressure on Israel.
But Israeli officials have not responded well to Wednesday’s events. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu in a meeting with the U.S. Mideast Envoy, Jason Greenblatt, said that the Palestinian’s “diplomatic warfare” will not go unanswered. He refused to elaborate further. But with Palestine now able to report criminal activity on international databases, Netanyahu might want to think a little about what those “answers” will be.