International Minister Riyad al-Maliki urges judges on the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice to order an finish to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Representatives for Palestine have known as for an finish to the occupation of Palestinian territories and the system of apartheid enforced by Israel on the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice (ICJ).
Palestinian International Minister Riyad al-Maliki and Palestine’s United Nations envoy Riyad Mansour, together with a number of tutorial and authorized consultants, represented Palestine on the hearings that started in The Hague on Monday and can final by way of February 26.
The case, which is separate from the genocide case by South Africa towards Israel for its ongoing lethal struggle on Gaza, is to find out the authorized penalties of Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories.
In December 2022, the UN Basic Meeting (UNGA) handed a decision calling on the ICJ to present an advisory or nonbinding opinion on Israel’s 57-year occupation of Palestinian territories. It obtained 87 votes in favour, with the USA being amongst 26 to vote no.
Reporting from the Hague, Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith stated there are two questions that each one submissions must tackle.
“The first is what are the legal consequences of the ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israel and preventing the Palestinians from their self-determination by prolonging the occupation, settlement building and annexation of the Palestinian territories,” he stated.
“And then the second question is how those policies affect the legal status of the occupation and what are the legal consequences that arise for all states, not just Israel.”
On the listening to on Monday, Mansour stated Israel should bear the results of actions that run counter to worldwide regulation, not be rewarded for them. He described tearfully how worldwide regulation has failed to guard Palestinian youngsters.
“We call on you to confirm that the Israeli presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is illegal and that its occupation must come to an immediate, complete and unconditional end,” he stated.
“Without accountability, there is no justice; and without justice, there can be no peace.”
Palestine’s representatives, together with Namira Negm, elaborated intimately how Israel’s insurance policies and practices within the occupied Palestinian territories quantity to apartheid.
Amnesty Worldwide additionally issued an announcement on Monday saying Israel should finish its “brutal” occupation of Palestine “to stop fuelling apartheid and systematic human rights violations”.
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, says the ICJ is just not judging whether or not the occupied Palestinian territories are occupied, since that’s already decided by UN Safety Council resolutions, however whether or not Israel desires to show extended occupation into de facto annexation.
“Everything about this occupation looks permanent,” he stated, including that that is demonstrated by the spreading of Israeli settlements.
Palestinian lawyer Muhammed Dahleh stated the hearings are extraordinarily essential because the Palestinians have been attempting for many years to make use of worldwide regulation and worldwide diplomacy to convey consideration to their trigger to no avail.
“This addition now of the advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice might mean that actually many countries in the world will have a legal basis to deal with the Israeli occupation and maybe even the Israeli state and the Israeli government in a different way,” Dahleh informed Al Jazeera from occupied East Jerusalem.
After the final listening to is held on February 26, the judges are anticipated to take a number of months to deliberate earlier than issuing an advisory opinion.
That is the second time the ICJ, upon a request from the UNGA, has been requested for an advisory opinion associated to the occupied Palestinian territory.
In July 2004, the World Courtroom discovered that Israel’s separation wall within the occupied West Financial institution violated worldwide regulation and ought to be torn down. The wall nonetheless stands to at the present time.
Israel is just not participating on this week’s hearings and reacted angrily to the 2022 UN request, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it “despicable” and “disgraceful”.