By Stephanie van den Berg
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – A document 52 states will current arguments concerning the authorized penalties of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories on the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice (ICJ), the U.N.’s highest authorized physique.
The ICJ’s six days of hearings beginning on Monday come after the U.N. Common Meeting requested the court docket in 2022 for an advisory, or non-binding, opinion on the occupation. Whereas Israel has ignored such opinions previously, it may add political strain over its ongoing operation in Gaza, which has killed 28,775 individuals, largely civilians.
It’s a part of a Palestinian push to get worldwide regulation establishments such because the ICJ to look at Israel’s conduct which has turn out to be extra pressing because the Oct. 7 assaults by Hamas in Israel and Israel’s navy response within the Gaza Strip.
“Politically, it will assist in reaching a two-state answer. We’re utilizing the platform of the biggest judicial physique to advance our trigger,” Omar Awadallah, a senior official within the Palestinian International Ministry, instructed journalists at a briefing earlier than the hearings.
Israel captured the West Financial institution, Gaza and East Jerusalem – areas of historic Palestine which the Palestinians need for a state – in a 1967 conflict. It withdrew from Gaza in 2005, however, together with neighbouring Egypt, nonetheless controls its borders.
It’s the second time the U.N. Common Meeting has requested the ICJ, also referred to as the World Courtroom, for an advisory opinion associated to the occupied Palestinian territory. In July 2004, the court docket discovered that Israel’s separation wall within the West Financial institution violated worldwide regulation and ought to be dismantled, although it nonetheless stands to this present day.
“The Worldwide Courtroom of Justice is about for the primary time to broadly think about the authorized penalties of Israel’s practically six-decades-long occupation and mistreatment of the Palestinian individuals,” mentioned Clive Baldwin, senior authorized adviser at Human Rights Watch.
“Governments which might be presenting their arguments to the court docket ought to seize these landmark hearings to focus on the grave abuses Israeli authorities are committing in opposition to Palestinians, together with the crimes in opposition to humanity of apartheid and persecution.”
The advisory opinion proceedings are separate from the genocide case that South Africa filed on the World Courtroom in opposition to Israel for its alleged violations in Gaza of the 1948 Genocide Conference. In late January the ICJ in that case ordered Israel to do every part in its energy to forestall acts of genocide in Gaza.
The end result of the advisory opinion wouldn’t be legally binding however would carry “nice authorized weight and ethical authority,” based on the ICJ.
The exact query put to the court docket is to present an opinion on the authorized penalties of Israel’s “occupation, settlement and annexation … together with measures aimed toward altering the demographic composition, character and standing of the Holy Metropolis of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of associated discriminatory laws and measures.”
The overall meeting additionally requested the 15-judge panel of the ICJ to advise on how these insurance policies and practices “have an effect on the authorized standing of the occupation” and what authorized penalties come up for all nations and the United Nations from this standing.
The court docket will hear over 50 states and three worldwide organisations over six days of hearings together with the USA, Russia, China and South Africa. Whereas Israel has filed a written assertion with the court docket, it has not requested to take part within the hearings. On Monday proceedings will begin with submissions from the Palestinian authorities.
(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Modifying by Josie Kao)