Reddit reviews Beyond Occupation: Apartheid, Colonialism and International Law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Hamas are in a very desperate position, hence the unity government with Fatah a few months back (which Netanyahu violently opposed). The membership bid is being put forward principally by Abbas, with Hamas in tow. As the article notes: "In Palestine, the court would need to confront not just specific or sporadic acts of violence such as the attacks against civilians and civilian objects reported in the UN-commissioned Goldstone report into Israel’s 2008-2009 assault on Gaza, but would also have to address the very nature and structure of Israel’s occupation."

I believe this is the main reason. Israel's brutal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza has long been seen by legal scholars and human rights lawyers as a system of colonialism and apartheid. An ICC investigation into Israeli policy in the OPT would undoubtedly concur. This would force Israel to confront it's overtly racist and two tiered system that it currently enforces in the OPT. Israel's illegal settlements in the West Bank (which are recognised as a war crime) would also be brought painfully to light. It would further isolate Israel on the international stage, damaging its image globally (more than its actions in Gaza have already done).

As for Hamas, the article states: "Investigations would also focus on the actions of the armed Palestinian resistance. While Hamas spokespersons have stated their confidence in being able to defend any charges laid against them, two issues may be of particular significance during a criminal investigation.

The standard line being taken in the West, and elsewhere, has been that Hamas specifically, but armed Palestinian factions in general, have the aim of targeting civilians.

As The Guardian’s editorial of 13 July states, “Hamas would kill scores of Israeli civilians if it could. It’s just that its missiles don’t get through, while Israel’s do.”

This claim is contradicted by the Israeli military, which states that the Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted only 21 percent of the rockets fired into Israel during July/August 2014. (Even these claims are contested as highly exaggerated by various experts, but that does not alter the argument here.)

Further, in the latest round of fighting/criminality, Israel claimed to have suffered 67 fatalities from Palestinian fire, three of whom were civilians. Given these two sets of data, it would not appear that a strong criminal case against Palestinians for targeting civilians is a foregone conclusion." (My emphasis).