UN states urged to support call for International Court of Justice opinion on Israeli occupation

The UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of Palestinian People met on Wednesday to discuss a UN request for the International Court of Justice to issue an advisory legal opinion on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. The request was prompted by a letter from the Palestinian government to the General Assembly.

Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s ambassador to the UN, said the Palestinian government wants the court’s opinion on the “prolonged military occupation,” the annexation of Palestinian territories, the demolition of Palestinian homes, and the denial of the right of Palestinians to self-determination, all of which are considered illegal under international law.

The petition to the court also addresses the issue of separate and discriminatory policies, laws and road systems for Jewish Israelis and Palestinian Arabs, he added.

Representatives of Indonesia, Lebanon, Egypt, South Africa and Namibia expressed strong support for Palestinian rights and said their countries will make submissions to the court in support of the Palestinian position.

The committee, which is chaired by Ambassador Cheikh Niang, Senegal’s permanent representative to the UN, also discussed recognition of the Nakba, or “Catastrophe,” the word Palestinians use to refer to their forced expulsion from their land in 1948 when the state of Israel was founded.

A number of speakers reaffirmed the support of their countries for the Palestinian people and their right to a free and independent state. Ahmad Faisal Mohammed, the permanent representative of Malaysia to the UN, was elected vice chair of the committee during the meeting.

“Malaysia has the honor to accept the post of the vice chair of this committee in recognition of Malaysia’s long standing support and contribution to the Palestinian cause,” he said.

Palestinians have long suffered “hardship” and “agony” in the pursuit of their inalienable right to have their own independent state, the achievement of which is long overdue, he added, and affirmed his country’s support for a “two-state” solution that includes the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Israel occupied the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza and other Arab territories during the 1967 war. In 1994, the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israeli authorities signed the Oslo Agreement, which called for a two-state solution to the conflict between Arabs and Israelis.

Almost 30 years later, Israel has instead become more entrenched in its occupation of the West Bank by building more Jewish settlements, considered illegal under international law, which makes a two-state solution much harder to achieve.

Mansour said during the committee meeting that the recently formed Israeli government, considered the most extreme and right-wing in the history of the state, includes a “convicted terrorist,” a reference to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was convicted by an Israeli court in 2008 of supporting terrorism and racism.

Israel continues to mount relentless attacks on the Palestinian civilian population in the occupied territories, Mansour said, as was especially evident during Ramadan, when Israeli forces “desecrated” Muslim and Christian holy sites.

He also highlighted the case of Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, who died in an Israeli jail on Tuesday after an 87-day hunger strike in protest against his administrative detention without charge. Palestinians have accused Israeli prison authorities of murder for allowing his condition to deteriorate to such a degree that he died in his cell.

Mansour said the Palestinian mission at the UN has sent an extensive letter to the UN Secretariat detailing Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people, including the death of Adnan.

Niang, the chair of the committee, said it was important “for all of us to make submissions to the” International Court of Justice. It is “our moral duty for us to do that; if we don’t do it, who else will,” he added.

He said that the request to the court is an important legal strategy through which Palestinians might achieve a measure of success in challenging the Israeli occupation.

“This is a very important milestone for the Palestinian cause and we should not miss it. We are counting on all of us to do it,” he said.

The deadline for states to make submissions to the court on the issue is July 25.