A group of 17 human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International on Thursday urged President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority to “promptly” join the International Criminal Court, a move strongly opposed by Israel and the United States. Palestinian leaders have said the court would be the last of the 63 international organizations, treaties and conventions it might join as part of a new strategy to leverage the observer-state status they won at the United Nations in 2012. Many Palestinians and their supporters say the court could prosecute Israel for building Jewish settlements in the West Bank and demolishing Palestinian homes there; legal experts have warned that joining the court could also expose Palestinians themselves to prosecution for war crimes.