The League of Arab States yesterday described Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories as an “affront to international justice” before the International Criminal Court (ICC), which it said amounted to genocide.
The Hague-based OTPI concluded yesterday a week of hearings into the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories since 1967, with an unprecedented 52 countries called to testify.
“This prolonged occupation is an affront to international justice,” argued the representative of the Arab League, Abdel Hakim ElRifai, claiming that the failure to stop this occupation provoked “the current horrors perpetrated once morest the Palestinian people, which amount to genocide.”
The UN asked this international court to issue a non-binding “advisory opinion” on the “legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.” The court is expected to issue its opinion before the end of the year.
Israel does not participate in the hearings, but submitted a written petition calling the questions put to the court “prejudiced” and “biased”.
The hearings began last Monday with testimonies from Palestinian officials, who accused the Israeli occupiers of running a system of “colonialism and ‘apartheid’” and urged the judges to call for an “immediate, complete and unconditional” end to the occupation.
These hearings are separate from a case brought to the ICC by South Africa, which accuses Israel of committing genocidal acts in Gaza.
In January, the court called on Israel to prevent any possible acts of genocide in the enclave, but without mentioning a ceasefire.
