On Monday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) began hearing a case brought forth by the UN General Assembly, with representatives for Palestine
urging the ICJ to bring about a stop to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. They also expressively asked for a declaration that states have a duty to refrain from aiding the ongoing occupation.
In January 2023, the General Assembly requested an advisory opinion from the ICJ looking into the legal consequences for Israel and other states concerning the occupation and Israel’s administration of the occupied territory. Over 50 states and organizations are scheduled to participate in these hearings, which are expected to persist for a week. The first hearing featured seven speakers who spent three hours making arguments on Palestine’s behalf.
The key points the speakers were trying to establish were Israel’s ongoing occupation is a violation of Palestine’s right to self-determination, and therefore it is against the UN Charter. The representatives from Palestine also argued that the court has jurisdiction over the advisory opinion request and that the segregation and dual legal regimes in the occupied territories were a form of apartheid, they also stated that the settlement of Israelis in the West Bank undermines Palestine’s right to self-determination.
Notably missing from the list of states due to speak at the hearings is Israel. However, the ICJ had published Israel’s written statement in July 2023, in which the country disputed the language of the General Assembly’s advisory opinion request, describing it as having “biased and flawed assertions.”
The hearings on Monday are independent from the proceedings initiated by South Africa in December regarding Israel’s alleged violations of the Genocide Convention in the ongoing Israel-Hamas War. On Friday, the ICJ directed Israel to comply with a set of anti-genocide measures, which the court had laid down in January.
The hearing scheduled on Tuesday will start at 10:00 CET and will feature eleven countries, each speaking for 30 minutes.