52 countries, a record number, will file arguments about the legal consequences of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories before the International Court of Justice, the highest United Nations legal body.
The International Court of Justice’s six-day hearings begin Monday after the United Nations General Assembly asked the court in 2022 to issue an advisory or non-binding opinion on the occupation.
While Israel has ignored such views in the past, it may have increased political pressure over its ongoing operation in Gaza, which has killed 28,775 people, most of them civilians.
It’s part of a Palestinian campaign to get international law institutions like the International Court of Justice to examine Israel’s behavior, which has become more urgent since the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel and the Israeli military response in the Gaza Strip.
“Politically, this will help achieve the two-state solution,” Omar Awadullah, a senior official at the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, told journalists at a press conference ahead of the hearings. We are using the platform of the largest judicial body to push our case forward”. .
Israel seized the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, areas in historical Palestine that Palestinians want to establish their state, in the 1967 war. It withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but it still controls its borders alongside neighboring Egypt.
For the second time, the United Nations General Assembly has asked the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, to issue an advisory opinion regarding the occupied Palestinian land.
In July 2004, the court found that Israel’s isolation wall in the West Bank violated international law and should be dismantled, although it still stands to this day.
“For the first time, the International Court of Justice is set to examine extensively the legal consequences of the ongoing Israeli occupation for nearly six decades and mistreatment of the Palestinian people,” said Clive Baldwin, chief legal counsel at Human Rights Watch.
“Governments bringing their arguments to court should seize these historic hearings to highlight grave violations committed by Israeli authorities against Palestinians, including crimes against humanity of apartheid and oppression.”
Consultative opinion proceedings are separate from the genocide case filed by South Africa at the International Court of Justice against Israel over its alleged violations in Gaza of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
In late January, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel in the case to do all it can to prevent the genocide in Gaza.
The outcome of the advisory opinion will not be legally binding, but will carry “great legal weight and moral authority,” according to the International Court of Justice.
The specific question posed to the court is to give an opinion on the legal consequences of ‘occupying, settling and annexing Israel… Including measures aimed at changing the demographic composition, character, status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and its adoption, to relevant discriminatory legislation and measures. “
The General Assembly has also asked the 15-judge panel at the International Court of Justice to advise on how these policies and practices affect the “legal situation of occupation” and what legal consequences all countries and the United Nations will have from this situation.
The court will hear from more than 50 countries and three international organizations over six days of hearings, including the United States, Russia, China and South Africa.
Although Israel submitted a written statement to the court, it did not request to participate in the sessions. Proceedings will begin on Monday with the presentation of reports from Palestinian authorities.
ShortNews1
Rizeq Alshbool
