The hearings on the legality of Israel’s 57-year occupation of Palestine are separate from the genocide case brought by South Africa.
The highest court of the United Nations is preparing to open historic hearings on the legality of Israel’s 57-year occupation of the Palestinian territories.
The week-long proceedings, which begin Monday at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, come as Israel continues its devastating war against Gaza.
The assault has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians since October 7.
The case is separate from South Africa’s genocide claim at the ICJ against Israel for its alleged violations in the ongoing war.
Instead, it focuses on Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem since 1967.
The Palestinians seek these three areas for an independent state.
Palestinian representatives, who will speak first on Monday, will argue that the Israeli occupation is illegal because it violated three key principles of international law, the Palestinian legal team told reporters Wednesday.
They claim that Israel has violated the ban on territorial conquest by annexing large swaths of occupied land, violated the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and imposed a system of racial discrimination and apartheid.
“We want to hear new words from the court,” said Omar Awadallah, head of the United Nations organizations department at the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.
“They had to consider the word genocide in the case of South Africa,” he said, referring to the separate case before the court. “Now we want them to consider apartheid.”
Awadallah said an advisory opinion from the Court “will give us many tools, using the peaceful methods and tools of international law, to confront the illegalities of the occupation.”
The court will likely take months to issue a decision.
After the Palestinians present their arguments, an unprecedented number of 51 countries and three organizations – the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the African Union – will address the judges in the Great Hall of Justice paneled.
Israel will not present oral arguments, although it has sent written submissions.
The case came before the court after the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted by a large majority in December 2022 to ask the 15-judge panel for a non-binding advisory opinion on the Israeli occupation.
The demand was supported by the Palestinians and vehemently opposed by Israel, which said any potential ruling by the court would be “completely illegitimate.”
Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza in 1967 in a war with Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but still controls the enclave’s borders.
In the occupied West Bank, it has built 146 settlements, according to the monitoring group Peace Now, which are home to more than 500,000 Jewish settlers. The West Bank settler population has increased by more than 15 percent in the past five years, according to a pro-settler group.
Israel has also annexed East Jerusalem and considers the entire city its capital. An additional 200,000 Israelis live in settlements built in East Jerusalem, which Israel considers neighborhoods of its capital. The city’s Palestinian residents face systematic discrimination, making it difficult to build new homes or expand existing ones.
The vast majority of the international community considers that the settlements are illegal. Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, home to the city’s most sensitive holy sites, is not internationally recognized.
This is the second time the UNGA has asked the ICJ, also known as the World Court, for an advisory opinion regarding the occupied Palestinian territory.
In July 2004, the court ruled that Israel’s separation wall in the West Bank violated international law and must be dismantled, although it remains in place today.