The International Court of Justice investigates Israel’s occupation

Published on: 02/19/2024 – 00:04

5 minutes

With our correspondent in The Hague,

This time there is a new legal six-day war, which will unfold before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Ministers, diplomats and lawyers from fifty-two countries and three international organizations will participate from February 19 to 26, 2024 at the Peace Palace in The Hague where the fifteen judges of the World Court sit. The UN’s highest court should investigate the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

If this process is not linked to the case filed by South Africa in late December, which accuses Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Israel’s opposition to Hamas will undoubtedly begin on October 7. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to make the war a global war on terror, the hearing before the World Court will inevitably place this final episode in the broader context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel will not argue in The Hague

The appeal to the ICJ is due on December 30, 2022. On that day, the UN General Assembly asked this Court to provide legal advice on the legality or illegality of Israel’s occupation and its consequences. Two questions are then submitted to fifteen judges, who have to say which is “ The legal consequences of Israel’s violation of the Palestinian right to self-determination, its occupation, its colonization and its prolonged annexation of the Palestinian Territory since 1967

“

Volunteer states submitted written briefs to the court in July 2023 The October 7 attacks were carried out by Hamas, and subsequent replacements. Only a few states responded before the court’s October 25 deadline. So the court proceeds to the last round of arguments from Monday, viva voce At this time.

But Israel will not come to the Peace Palace to argue. The Jewish state is against this process. It claims that its purpose is to “demonize” Israel and that resolving the conflict is not the business of international justice. On Monday February 19, Palestinians will have three hours to plead their case. Then until February 26, the volunteers, namely the other 51 states and three multilateral organizations – the African Union, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) – will succeed each other at the desk placed in front of the judges. , For a short application of 30 minutes.

Request by proxy

If the Jewish state refuses to appear at The Hague, many countries will nevertheless defend its position, including its closest allies, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. Three of Israel’s allies have warned that the hearings could damage negotiations on the future of the occupied territories. They ask the judges not to answer in detail on the status of the area or on these borders. The Palestinians and their allies, who will likely outnumber the opposition in The Hague, are instead asking him for a definitive answer.

For six days, through petitions from Algeria, South Africa, Jordan, Ireland and others, the ills resulting from occupation will be truly examined: apartheid, forced displacement, self-determination, natural resources, status quo On the Holy City, the annexation of Jerusalem, the liberation and of course, the colonization of the Palestinian territories. This since the October 7 attack Colonization continues at a rapid pace With the approval and instigation of far-right ministers in the Netanyahu government, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. Several construction projects have recently been approved, particularly in East Jerusalem.

In its memorandum submitted in July, Paris also rejects any annexation, particularly of Jerusalem, and categorically condemns colonization and human rights violations resulting from the occupation. The document was released in July 2023 and was at the time when Catherine the Great was Foreign Minister. Will Paris pleas return to this position?

The scope of the future opinion will depend on the States

And will the judges’ response help breathe life into efforts to break the impasse into which this conflict finds itself? These hearing stakes also depend on the scope that states want to give them. Will his opinion provide potential negotiators with a basis for compromise, when the West once again “ Two-state solution “, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently ruled out any possibility of a Palestinian state?

If the judges fully answer the questions posed by the UN General Assembly, will their opinion weigh on Israel’s near or distant allies, even if it is not binding? Two collateral questions, linked to the ongoing conflict, may also be addressed during the hearing: Israel’s invocation of self-defense to justify its use of force and Gaza’s position, on which jurists disagree. Although Israeli forces withdrew from the territory in 2005 and planned its blockade two years later, is the enclave considered occupied?

Since its establishment in 1946, the International Court of Justice has issued 30 legal opinions and its judges have ruled on occupation on at least two occasions: in the 2005 case between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda. And when they were consulted on the legality of the “wall” built by Israel in 2004. Judges ordered the demolition of the illegal wall. It was like a trial run for the big oral exam that opens on Monday. His opinion – which is not binding – had only minor implications.

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