Palestine Seek to End Israeli Occupation in ICJ Hearing
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20 February 2024 10:42 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki addressed the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday, urging the court to terminate the illegal Israeli occupation in Palestine.
"We call upon the International Court of Justice to declare the Israeli occupation illegal and emphasize the necessity of ending it immediately and unconditionally," al-Maliki said during a hearing session at the ICJ.
The request came at the beginning of the week-long oral statements of 52 states and three international organizations before the ICJ addressing “Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”. The advisory opinion by ICJ is based on the request of the UN General Assembly which was adopted into a resolution on December 30, 2022.
"It is time to end double standards and enforce international laws on all countries without exception," Al-Maliki said. "Israel has left Palestinians with only three options: either displacement, detention, or death."
Al-Maliki further said that Palestine remained the greatest test of the credibility of the international system based on laws, “and humanity cannot bear its failure". The ICJ is expected to take around six months to draft an advisory opinion on the matter.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem in a 1967 war and has since built illegal settlements in the West Bank and steadily expanded them. It withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but, along with neighboring Egypt, still controls its borders. It has also annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognized by most countries.
The three territories are areas of historic Palestine that the Palestinians want for a state. Israeli leaders have long disputed that the territories are formally occupied on the basis that they were captured from Jordan and Egypt during a war rather than from a sovereign Palestine.
The United Nations has since 1967 referred to the territories as Occupied Palestinian Territories and demanded that Israeli forces withdraw, saying it is the only way to secure peace. Its 1967 resolution did not, however, specifically label the occupation as illegal.
It is the second time the UN General Assembly has asked the ICJ for an advisory opinion related to the occupied Palestinian territory. In July 2004, the court found that Israel's separation wall in the West Bank violated international law and should be dismantled, though it still stands to this day.
REUTERS | ANADOLU
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