Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki urged judges at the International Court of Justice to order an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
Palestinian representatives have called for an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories and the apartheid system imposed by Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki and Palestinian envoy to the United Nations Riyad Mansour, as well as several academic and legal experts, represented Palestine at the hearings which began Monday in The Hague and will last until February 26.
The case, which is separate from South Africa’s genocide case against Israel for its ongoing deadly war on Gaza, seeks to determine the legal consequences of Israel’s decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories.
In December 2022, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution calling on the ICJ to provide an advisory or non-binding opinion on Israel’s 57-year occupation of the Palestinian territories. It received 87 votes in favor, with the United States among 26 to vote no.
Reporting from The Hague, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Bernard Smith said there were two questions all submissions will need to answer.
“The first concerns the legal consequences of Israel’s current occupation of the Palestinian territories and preventing Palestinians from enjoying self-determination by prolonging the occupation, settlement construction and annexation of the Palestinian territories,” he said. he declared.
“And then the second question is how these policies affect the legal status of the occupation and what are the resulting legal consequences for all states, not just Israel. »
At Monday’s hearing, Mansour said Israel should bear the consequences of actions contrary to international law, not be rewarded for them. He tearfully described how international law has failed to protect Palestinian children.
“We call on you to confirm that the Israeli presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is illegal and that its occupation must end immediately, completely and unconditionally,” he said.
“Without accountability, there is no justice; and without justice there can be no peace.
Palestinian representatives, including Namira Negm, detailed how Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territories amount to apartheid.
Amnesty International also issued a statement Monday saying Israel must end its “brutal” occupation of Palestine “to stop fueling apartheid and systematic human rights violations.”
Tel Aviv Tribune senior political analyst Marwan Bishara says the ICJ is not judging whether the occupied Palestinian territories are occupied, since that is already determined by UN Security Council resolutions, but whether Israel wants to turn into an occupation prolonged in de facto annexation.
“Everything about this occupation seems permanent,” he said, adding that this is demonstrated by the expansion of Israeli settlements.
Palestinian lawyer Muhammed Dahleh said the hearings are extremely important as the Palestinians have tried for decades to use international law and international diplomacy to draw attention to their cause, to no avail.
“This addition of the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice could mean that in reality many countries around the world will have a legal basis to confront the Israeli occupation and perhaps even the Israeli state and to the Israeli government in a different way. Dahleh told Tel Aviv Tribune from occupied East Jerusalem.
After the last hearing on February 26, the judges are expected to take several months to deliberate before issuing an advisory opinion.
This is the second time that the ICJ, at the request of the UNGA, has been requested for an advisory opinion concerning the occupied Palestinian territory.
In July 2004, the World Court ruled that the Israeli separation wall in the occupied West Bank violated international law and must be demolished. The wall still stands today.
Israel is not participating in this week’s hearings and has reacted angrily to the 2022 UN request, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it “despicable” and “shameful”.