“The Palestinians also suffer from colonialism and apartheid” and “some are indignant at these words but they should be indignant at the reality that is ours”, launched Riad Al-Maliki, the head of Palestinian diplomacy before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
This court is holding hearings from this Monday on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967 with an unprecedented number of 52 countries called to testify.
The United States, Russia and even China will address the judges during a session spread over a week at the Peace Palace in The Hague, headquarters of the ICJ.
Riad Al-Maliki called on the Court to declare the occupation illegal and order it to end “immediately, completely and unconditionally”.
“Justice delayed is justice denied, and the Palestinian people have been deprived of justice for far too long,” he added, launching: “It is time to put an end to the double standards” from which they suffer. the Palestinian people “for too long”.
A second request from South Africa rejected
On December 31, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution requesting a non-binding “advisory opinion” from the ICJ on the “legal consequences arising from Israel's policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem ".
This ICJ opinion comes amid growing international legal pressure on Israel over the war in Gaza sparked by the Hamas attack on October 7.
Even if these opinions are not legally enforceable, they often have effects.
The ICJ has previously issued advisory opinions on the legality of Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 and on South Africa's occupation of Namibia under the apartheid regime .
It also issued an opinion in 2004 saying that parts of the wall erected by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories were illegal and should be demolished.
Israel is not participating in the hearings and had denounced the 2022 UN resolution, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it “despicable” and “shameful”.
These hearings are entirely separate from South Africa's recent applications to the ICJ.
Pretoria had taken the matter to court, arguing that Israel's current operations in Gaza amounted to a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
On January 26, the Court ordered Israel to prevent any possible act of genocide, but did not call for a ceasefire.
On Friday, she rejected a second request from South Africa, which asked her to order new measures after Israel's announcement of an upcoming military offensive on Rafah, where more than half of the 2.4 million Gaza residents took refuge.