Hearings into the legality of Israel’s 57-year occupation of Palestine are separate from the genocide case introduced by South Africa.
The United Nations’s highest courtroom is about to open historic hearings into the legality of Israel’s 57-year occupation of the Palestinian territories.
The week-long proceedings, which start on the Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Monday, come as Israel continues its devastating warfare on Gaza.
The assault has killed greater than 29,000 Palestinians since October 7.
The case is separate from the genocide complaint South Africa filed on the ICJ in opposition to Israel for its alleged violations within the ongoing warfare.
It focuses as a substitute on Israel’s occupation of the West Financial institution, Gaza and East Jerusalem since 1967.
The Palestinians search all three areas for an unbiased state.
Palestinian representatives, who communicate first on Monday, will argue that the Israeli occupation is unlawful as a result of it has violated three key tenets of worldwide regulation, the Palestinian authorized crew instructed reporters on Wednesday.
They are saying Israel has violated the prohibition on territorial conquest by annexing giant swathes of occupied land, violated Palestinians’ proper to self-determination and imposed a system of racial discrimination and apartheid.
“We wish to hear new phrases from the courtroom,” mentioned Omar Awadallah, the pinnacle of the UN organizations division within the Palestinian Overseas Ministry.
“They’ve needed to contemplate the phrase genocide within the South Africa case,” he mentioned, referring to the separate case earlier than the courtroom. “Now we wish them to think about apartheid.”
Awadallah mentioned that an advisory opinion from the courtroom “will give us many instruments, utilizing peaceable worldwide regulation strategies and instruments, to confront the illegalities of the occupation”.
The courtroom will seemingly take months to make a ruling.
After the Palestinians current their arguments, an unprecedented 51 international locations and three organisations – the League of Arab States, the Group of Islamic Cooperation and the African Union – will handle the judges within the wood-panelled Nice Corridor of Justice.
Israel is not going to current an oral argument, though it has despatched written observations.
The case arrived on the courtroom after the UN Common Meeting (UNGA) voted by a large margin in December 2022 to ask the 15-judge panel for a non-binding advisory opinion on the Israeli occupation.
The request was promoted by Palestinians and opposed vehemently by Israel, which mentioned any potential choice from the courtroom could be “fully illegitimate”.
Israel captured the West Financial institution, East Jerusalem and Gaza in 1967 throughout a warfare with Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 however nonetheless controls the enclave’s borders.
Within the occupied West Financial institution, it has constructed 146 settlements, in response to the watchdog group Peace Now, that are residence to greater than 500,000 Jewish settlers. The West Financial institution settler inhabitants has grown by greater than 15 p.c within the final 5 years, in response to a pro-settler group.
Israel additionally has annexed East Jerusalem and considers the whole metropolis to be its capital. A further 200,000 Israelis dwell in settlements in-built East Jerusalem, which Israel considers to be neighbourhoods of its capital. Palestinian residents of the town face systematic discrimination, making it tough for them to construct new houses or increase present ones.
The worldwide group overwhelmingly considers the settlements to be unlawful. Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, residence to the town’s most delicate holy websites, shouldn’t be internationally recognised.
The case marks the second time the UNGA has requested the ICJ, also called the World Court docket, for an advisory opinion associated to the occupied Palestinian territory.
In July 2004, the courtroom discovered that Israel’s separation wall within the West Financial institution violated worldwide regulation and must be dismantled, although it nonetheless stands to today.
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