In a hearing before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), South Africa accused Israel of implementing apartheid against Palestinians, alleging that Israel subjects Palestinians to discriminatory land zoning and planning policies, punitive and administrative house demolitions, and violent army incursions into their villages, towns, cities, and refugee camps.
The South African representative at the ICJ, Ambassador Vusimuzi Madonsela, drew parallels between the situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and apartheid-era South Africa where racial segregation and discrimination were legally sanctioned. He stated that the Palestinian struggle resonates strongly with South Africans because the Palestinian struggle evokes memories of their struggle against apartheid and segregation.
Further, Madonsela argued that the absence of a right to return for Palestinian refugees to Israel and the separation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip sustain the dominance of the Israeli Jewish community over Palestinians.
The representative for the government of the Netherlands, René J. M. Lefeber, while not addressing the situation as directly, emphasized the universality of the right to self-determination and stated that self-defensive occupations must respect international humanitarian law. He also asserted that states have an obligation not to recognize or support situations violating international peremptory norms.
Expressing a similar sentiment, Ambassador M. Riaz Hamidullah of Bangladesh rebuked the humanitarian conditions in Gaza amidst Israel’s occupation of the area and contended that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal.
However, Israel has disavowed the proceedings at the ICJ. In a public statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed Israel’s non-recognition of the proceedings’ legitimacy, framing them as an attempt to limit Israel’s right to self-defense. Israel had already contested the basis of the case in a written submission to the ICJ in July, arguing the United Nations General Assembly had wrongfully assumed Israel’s violation of international law in initiating the ICJ proceedings.
This case is separate from a previous case lodged by South Africa in December regarding Israel’s assumed violations of the Genocide Convention in the ongoing Israel-Hamas War.
Based on content from: Jurist