Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki urges judges at the International Court of Justice to order an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Representatives of Palestine have asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories and the apartheid system imposed by Israel.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki and Palestinian envoy to the United Nations Riyad Mansour, along with several academic and legal experts, represented Palestine in the hearings that began in The Hague on Monday and will last until the 26th. of February.
The case, which is separate from the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel for its ongoing deadly war in Gaza, aims to determine the legal consequences of Israel's decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories.
In December 2022, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution calling on the ICJ to issue an advisory or non-binding opinion on Israel's 57-year occupation of the Palestinian territories. It received 87 votes in favor, and the United States was among the 26 that voted against.
Reporting from The Hague, Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith said there are two questions that all submissions will need to address.
“The first is what are the legal consequences of Israel's current occupation of the Palestinian territories and of preventing Palestinians from self-determination by prolonging the occupation, settlement construction and annexation of the Palestinian territories,” he said.
“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.”
At Monday's hearing, Mansour said Israel must bear the consequences of actions that go against international law, not be rewarded for them. He tearfully described how international law has failed to protect Palestinian children.
“We ask 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 said.
“Without accountability there is no justice; and without justice there can be no peace.”
Palestinian representatives, including Namira Negm, explained in detail how Israel's policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territories amount to apartheid.
Amnesty International also issued a statement on Monday saying that Israel must end its “brutal” occupation of Palestine “to stop fueling apartheid and systematic violations of human rights.”
Al Jazeera political analyst Marwan Bishara says the ICJ is not judging whether the occupied Palestinian territories are occupied, since that is already determined by UN Security Council resolutions, but whether Israel wants to turn a prolonged occupation into a de facto annexation.
“Everything about this occupation seems permanent,” he said, adding that this is demonstrated by the expansion of Israeli settlements.
Palestinian lawyer Muhammed Dahleh said the hearings are extremely important as the Palestinians have been trying for decades to use international law and international diplomacy to draw attention to their cause, without success.
“This addition now of the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice could mean that actually many countries in the world will have a legal basis to deal with the Israeli occupation and perhaps even with the Israeli state and government in a different way” . Dahleh told Al Jazeera from occupied East Jerusalem.
After the final hearing is held on February 26, the justices are expected to take several months to deliberate before issuing an advisory opinion.
This is the second time that the ICJ, at the request of the United Nations General Assembly, has been asked for an advisory opinion related to the occupied Palestinian territory.
In July 2004, the World Court ruled that Israel's separation wall in the occupied West Bank violated international law and must be torn down. The wall still stands to this day.
Israel is not participating in this week's hearings and reacted angrily to the UN's 2022 request, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called “despicable” and “shameful.”
