ICJ closes final day of West Bank occupation hearings

News Desk - The Cradle

Nations call on the court to recognize that Israel's occupation of the West Bank territories is illegal

A number of nations and entities came together in a UN top court at the Hague to further condemn Israel on the final day of the International Court of Justice ICJ’s hearing on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory on 26 February.  

Today’s hearing was separate from South Africa's genocide case against Israel and included statements by Turkiye, the Maldives, Fiji, Spain, Zambia, the League of Arab States, the African Union, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.  

“The conflict is not about a certain Palestinian faction or group. The conflict dates back to an earlier century,” Turkiye’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmet Yildiz said in his statement. 

“The real obstacle to peace is obvious,” Yildiz added, noting the “deepening occupation by Israel of the Palestinian territories” and the failure to implement a two-state solution as the underlying issue.  

He also highlighted Israel’s actions that violated the sanctity of holy sites, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque, saying that incidents such as settlers storming the mosque were a response to “heinous calls by Israeli politicians.” 

Yildiz noted Ankara’s concern over plans by the Israeli government to limit access for Muslims to holy sites as the holy month of Ramadan approaches.  

Marshal Mubambe Muchende, Zambia’s solicitor general, said that the nation recognizes Palestinian’s right to self-determination and security needs for Israel, adding that both have to respect international human rights and humanitarian law.  

Muchende said the solution to this war is not to place the “blame squarely on one party” but to advance negotiated resolutions towards a two-state solution.  

The League of Arab States’ representative, Abdel Hakim al-Rifai, told the court that Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is the “last oppressive, expansionist apartheid settler colonial occupation still standing in the 21st century.” 

“This prolonged occupation is an affront to international justice. The failure to bring it to an end has led to the current horrors perpetrated against the Palestinian people, amounting to genocide,” Rifai said. “There can be no moral or juridical justification for occupying lands, killing, terrorizing, and displacing their populations.  

He added that the rule of law, and “not the prevailing law of the jungle,” will be the road that leads the region to peace, noting that “ending the occupation is the gateway to peaceful coexistence.” 

The League of Arab State’s second representative, Ralph Wilde, said the “Palestinian people have been denied the exercise of their legal right to self-determination through the more than century-long, violent, colonial racist effort to establish a nation-state exclusively for the Jewish people in the land of Mandatory Palestine.” 

Wilde concluded his remarks by saying there are no legal grounds for Israel to maintain its occupation, closing by quoting Refaat Alareer, a Palestinian poet and educator who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, “If I must die, you must live to tell my story. If I must die, let it bring hope. Let it be a story.” 

“The international community has let down the Palestinian people, but the African Union has faith that in this court; justice will prevail,” representative Mohamed Helal said in his address. “The betrayal of the sacred trust, that is, the self-determination of the Palestinian people, is an enduring injustice that pleads to be remedied.”