Palestinian representatives argued at the United Nations’ top court on Monday that Israel’s decades-long occupation violated international law and presented Palestinians with a choice between “displacement, submission or death.”
The arguments kicked off six days of hearings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories that began in 1967, including East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The proceedings, planned months before the Gaza war began on October 7, have taken on added urgency amid this conflict, the deadliest Israeli-Palestinian war.
The tribunal is scheduled to hear representatives from more than 50 nations, including some of Israel’s allies such as the United States and Britain, as well as critics including China and Russia.
Israel is not participating in the oral discussions. He said he did not recognize the court’s jurisdiction over his activities in the West Bank.
The Israeli prime minister’s office issued a statement on Monday calling the proceedings “an attempt aimed at violating Israel’s right to defend itself against existential threats.” The statement also said the hearing is “part of the Palestinian effort to dictate the results of the diplomatic settlement without negotiations.”
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki opened the proceedings by telling the court that Israel had subjected Palestinians to decades of “colonialism and apartheid”.
“There are those who are outraged by these words,” he said. “They should be outraged by the reality that we are suffering.”
Members of the large Palestinian panel, which included prominent American, British and French lawyers, laid out a series of what they said were violations of international law over the past six decades. They said 139 countries had recognized the State of Palestine, yet the continued occupation and annexation of these territories was met with silence and impunity.
“Silence is not an option,” Paul Reichler, an American lawyer for the group, told the 15-judge bench. The court had the power to make changes “upholding the law, which the State of Palestine is asking you to do,” he said.
Riyad Mansour, a Palestinian-American diplomat, addressed the judges through tears, his voice breaking several times. He said that with the war in Gaza, Israeli violations of international law had reached the most inhuman level, “in which no city, no village, no sanctity had escaped” the destruction.
“It is so painful to be Palestinian today,” he said.
The court, the United Nations’ highest judicial body, is expected to issue an advisory opinion after the hearings, although that could take weeks. It will not be legally binding and Israel has ignored the court’s opinions in the past. But the move this time comes amid growing international pressure on Israel to end the fighting in Gaza, which began after Hamas attacks on Israel last October.
The proceedings this week are separate from a case brought by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a charge Israel denies. Last month, the court ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide in the territory, without ruling on whether genocide was taking place.
But the timing of this week’s hearings could contribute to an uncomfortable spotlight on Israeli policies when questions about Palestinian statehood are front and center for diplomats internationally as Gaza ceasefire negotiations continue.
The UN General Assembly first asked the court to look into Israel’s activities in the Palestinian territories more than two decades ago. In 2004, the court reached an advisory opinion that a wall Israel was building around the territories violated international law, although Israel ignored the finding.
Human rights groups see the proceedings this week as a long-overdue opportunity to answer questions about the Israeli occupation, which they see as discriminatory practices that violate international law and the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
“Governments making their case to the court should seize these landmark hearings to highlight the grave abuses committed by Israeli authorities against Palestinians,” said Clive Baldwin, senior legal adviser at Human Rights Watch, which says that it has documented abuses amounting to illegal persecution and apartheid.
