ICJ hearing: Israel ‘apartheid’ against Palestinians worse than in South Africa

South Africa has told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague that Israel is responsible for apartheid against the Palestinians and its occupation is “inherently and fundamentally illegal”.

"We as South Africans sense, see, hear and feel to our core the inhumane discriminatory policies and practices of the Israeli regime as an even more extreme form of the apartheid that was institutionalised against black people in my country," said Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa's ambassador to the Netherlands, where the ICJ is based.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) held a second day of hearings on Tuesday on the legal ramifications of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967.

Representatives from South Africa, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, and Belgium presented preliminary arguments.

More than 50 states and at least three international organizations will address judges at the United Nations’ top court until February 26.

South African ambassador to the Netherlands Vusimuzi Madonsela addressed the Hague-based court, saying the Israeli occupation is in breach of International law and UN resolutions.

Madonsela said Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians must end. He added that Palestinians must be permitted to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.

Israel is applying an even more extreme version of apartheid against Palestinians in the West Bank than South Africa had against Blacks before 1994, he said.

“It is clear that Israel’s illegal occupation is also being administered in breach of the crime of apartheid… It is indistinguishable from settler colonialism. Israel’s apartheid must end,” he noted.

The ambassador stressed that South Africa, which endured almost five decades of apartheid, another crime against humanity, has a “special obligation” to call out apartheid wherever it occurs and ensure it is “brought to an immediate end.”

Israel's ‘crimes of all crime’ continue in breach of ICJ orders on Gaza

Since the court’s ruling, Israeli forces have killed 1,864 Palestinians, including 690 children and 441 women, in Gaza.

Roberto Calzadilla Sarmiento, Bolivia’s ambassador to the Netherlands, told the ICJ that his country considers that continuously depriving and denying the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination for 75 years, Israel is in a clear breach of its international obligations.

Belize representative Shoman Assad Shoman, a representative of Belize, has told the ICJ that “Palestine must be free”. 

He said Israel’s violation of international law with impunity must be stopped.  "Israel cannot be permitted to continue flouting one of the most fundamental principles of the international law with impunity. Impunity breeds inhumanity."

Belgium’s legal expert Vaios Koutroulis focused on Israel’s settlement policy and its legal implications.

"Belgium condemns the use of violence against the Palestinian population and wishes to highlight Israel’s obligations to put an end to violence and bring to justice the perpetrators."

Philippa Webb, a law professor at King’s College London, took the floor, with her arguments focusing on apartheid and its consequences concerning self-determination.

Occupation regime on trial

The International Court of Justice has started public hearings on the Israeli regime

Lawyer Ben Juratowitch argues that the Gaza Strip remains occupied despite the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the removal of settlers in 2005.

On Monday, the ICJ started public hearings on the Israeli regime's crimes, which had been requested by the United Nations General Assembly in December of 2022.

The World Court was asked to look into the legal consequences of the regime’s policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds, as well as in the besieged Gaza Strip.

ICJ begins week-long hearings on Israel’s occupation of Palestine

The hearing comes amid mounting international pressure on Israel over its savage campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The ICJ hearings are separate from a high-profile case brought by South Africa, according to which Israel is committing genocidal activities in Gaza. The court ruled in the South Africa case in January that Israel must do everything in its power to prevent genocide and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The Israeli regime has been under mounting international pressure over its savage campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip since early October.

But the regime remains reluctant to abide by the ICJ ruling, and has had its bloody campaign going, thanks in large part to the unqualified military and diplomatic support the United States provides to Israel.

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