While Israel-Lebanon deal stops fighting, legal experts warned Beirut of a bigger issue: Lack of judicial recourse

As Israel and Lebanon sign a ceasefire agreement to stop the fighting, legal experts are warning that the deal could block victims of Israeli war crimes in Lebanon from pursuing accountability and hinder future efforts to give the International Criminal Court jurisdiction in the country.

On Friday, Lebanon and Israel signed a 14-point framework agreement in Washington, which was designed to work towards an end to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. However, Article 13 of the deal says that Israel and Lebanon will “cease all hostile or negative actions in international political or legal forums” to establish good faith between the two sides.

The broadly framed text could prevent victims of Israeli war crimes allegedly committed during fighting since 8 October 2023 from seeking justice through international or national courts. Legal experts argued the clause would mean that Lebanon would not be able to grant the ICC jurisdiction in the country, which advocates have pushed for to prosecute Israel and its leaders for alleged war crimes.

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What the lawyers are saying

The lawyer argued that the clause would kill any hopes of judicial recourse for the war crimes committed by Israel. “This will kill any hope of granting the ICC jurisdiction, even any hope of a UN fact-finding mission,” said Farouk al-Moghrabi, a former adviser to the Ministry of Human Rights who helped draft a law to give the ICC jurisdiction in Lebanon. He noted that the law would also kill internal efforts to investigate and doccument crimes.

Meanwhile, Nizar Saghieh, a lawyer and head of Legal Agenda, a Lebanese NGO, said: “The government is normalising the crime and waiving its rights to ensure any investigation or the prosecution of these crimes, or even to assist the victim in their search for justice.”

It is pertinent to note that the head of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, has rejected the agreement signed in Washington as a “humiliation”. The group has consistently called on the Lebanese government to stop direct negotiations with Israel.