โHere are the choices: ethnic cleansing, apartheid or genocide,โ said Palestineโs foreign minister at the opening of public hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) this week, with a record 52 States and three international organizations providing comments and presentations on a case based on the UN General Assemblyโs request for an advisory opinion on legal consequences arising from Israelโs policies and practices in Occupied Palestinian Territory.
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Filed before the ongoing four-month-old war in Gaza began, the chas triggered heated commentary even before the courtโs president, Judge Nawaf Salam opened the hearings. This recap provides snapshots of the first days of hearings, from 19 to 21 February. The hearings will close on 26 February. Israel chose not to participate.
World Court considers two specific queues. stations
The General Assembly submitted two particular questions to the World Court court in its December 2022 request:
- โWhat are the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures?โ
- โHow do the policies and practices of Israel affect the legal status of the occupation, and what are the legal consequences that arise for all States and the United Nations from this status?โ
Here is what unfolded in the beginning days of the public hearings at the Peace Palace in The Hague.

Palestineโs plea
Palestine presented its arguments for three hours on 19 February, with Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki beginning with these words:
โI stand before you as 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, half of them children, are besieged and bombed, killed and maimed, starved and displaced, as more than 3.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are subjected to colonization of their territory and the racist violence that enables it, as 1.7 million Palestinians in Israel are treated as second class citizens and unwelcomed intruders on their ancestral land, as seven million Palestinian refugees continue to be denied their right to return to their land and home.โ
Successive governments in Israel have left only three choices to Palestinians, he said, โdisplacement, subjugation or death. Here are the choices: ethnic cleansing, apartheid or genocide.โ
Calling for โan end to Israelโs impunityโ, which is โa moral, political and legal imperativeโ, he said, โOur people are here to stayโฆand they will not forsake their rights.โ

South Africa describes practices as โapartheidโ
Representing South Africa, which filed a separate complaint with the ICJ in December against Israel for โgenocide in Gazaโ โ for which the court already issued provisional measures, Vusimuzi Madonsela, the countryโs ambassador to the Netherlands, told the court on 20 February that after โdecades of apartheid settler colonialism, a just solution for all who legally qualify to live in historical Palestine would need to be negotiated with the assistance of the international communityโ.
Drawing a parallel between the situation in Palestine and the struggle of South Africans against apartheid, an โinstitutionalized regime of discriminatory lawsโ, he said current practices ensure โIsraeli-Jewish dominationโ. In this vein, he called for the โimmediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of Israeli troopsโ from the occupied territories.
From โannexationโ to a โpoint of no returnโ
The Chilean representative said that Israel โneither regards itself nor behaves as a temporary occupantโ, and its practices amount to โannexationโ. He also recalled that Chile is home to the largest Palestinian community outside the Middle East and a large Jewish community, the third largest in Latin America.
Meanwhile, representing Algeria, law professor Ahmed Laraba estimated that Israel โaims at a point of no returnโ in the occupied territories to โdiscard all possibility of creating a Palestinian Stateโ. He asked the ICJ to put an end to Israelโs โimpunityโ as an โoppressorโ by reminding it of โa law which is not that of revenge, but justiceโ.
Saudi Arabiaโs representative criticized Israel for โthe dehumanizationโ of Palestinians, who are treated as โdisposable objectsโ in Gaza. This situation demonstrates โhow the illegality of the Israeli occupation for more than five decades can degenerate into the ugliest of consequencesโ, the delegate said, also accusing Israel of โcontinuing to ignore the provisional measures ordered by the courtโ as part of the South African complaint on genocide.

Arguing the right to self-defence
Speaking for the Netherlands, Renรฉ J. M. Lefeber, legal advisor to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, recalled the foundations of the right to self-determination of peoples and the legal framework of the โuse of forceโ and the right to self-defence in the event of an attack.
โThe occupation of a territory can be legitimate within the framework of the right to self-defence in response to an armed attackโ, even if that does not come from a State but from an armed group, he said, also highlighting the obligation to both respect international humanitarian law and put an end to its violations. He expressed hope that the ICJ could bring peace to the Middle East.
Sharing borders with both Gazans and Israelis, Egypt challenged Israelโs use of the right to self-defence.
โThe argument that a State may exercise self-defence against a territory under its military occupation and effective control is counter-intuitive,โ said Jasmine Moussa, legal advisor to Egyptโs Foreign Affairs Ministerโs Office, adding that Israel committed a โwar of aggressionโ in 1967 and then continued โdecades of occupationโ contrary to international law.
โIsrael cannot invoke self-defence to maintain a situation created by its illegal conduct,โ she continued, underscoring the seriousness of the current situation, including in Rafah, where โIsrael is continuing its policy of mass forcible expulsion of Palestinians civilians, all while the Security Council repeatedly fails to call for a ceasefire in callous disregard for Palestinian lifeโ.
The Middle East region โyearns for peace and stability and a just, comprehensive and lasting resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on the principles of international law and the establishment of a viable Palestinian State, on the pre-1967 lines, with East-Jerusalem as its capitalโ, she said.
Diego Colas, Director of Legal Affairs at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, said Israelโs โright to defend itselfโ remains by international law.
Noting โthe weighty context in which these hearings take placeโ since the attack carried out by Hamas in Israel on 7 October, he defended โthe right of Israel to defend itself and its population to prevent such attacks from happening againโ.
However, this right must be exercised in strict compliance with international law, and in particular, international humanitarian law, he added, reiterating that while Israeli operations and bombings are creating thousands of civilian victims in Gaza, France has clearly, consistently and repeatedly affirmed this demand.
โRespect for international law, particularly international humanitarian law, by all stakeholders, is the only possible horizon of peace,โ he said.

Calls for compensation, reparations
Turning to other concerns, Franceโs representative condemned Israelโs colonization policy, which has accelerated since 2004, as well as comments promoting the installation of colonies in Gaza and the transfer of the Gazan population โout of this territoryโ, which would constitute โa grave violationโ of international law.
As for reparations, he emphasized that โFrance considers that this obligation extends to all damage done to the Palestinian populationโ by proceeding with โrestitutions and, failing that, compensationโ.
Bolivia, which broke off its relations with Israel on 1 November 2023, denounced a situation of โapartheidโ and โatrocities amounting to the crime of genocideโ in Gaza. Its representative called for โIsraelโs reversal of its illegal settlement policyโ in the occupied territories alongside reparations and compensation.
When the hearings continued on 21 February, Colombiaโs representative said Israel must cease all occupation and colonization and carry out reparations. โIsrael must compensate, by the applicable rules of international law, all legal persons having suffered any form of material or immaterial damage as a result of its occupation of the Palestinian territories.โ

A negotiated two-state solution
Brazilโs representative insisted on the need to move towards a negotiated two-state solution in โone of the most pressing unresolved conflicts on the international agenda since decadesโ, underlining that the importance of the question and the gravity of the situation were indisputable even before 7 October.
โThe tragic events of that date and the disproportionate and indiscriminate military operations that followed, however, show clearly that the mere management of the conflict cannot be considered an option,โ the delegate said. โThe two-state solution, with an economically viable Palestinian State living side by side with Israel, is the only way to bring peace and security to the Israelis and the Palestinians.โ
The United States favours a political settlement within the framework established by the UN, said Richard C. Visek, legal advisor to the Department of State.
Recalling โthe horror of the terrorist attacks of 7 Octoberโ, he acknowledged the context marked by โthe ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has had severe, widespread and tragic consequences for Palestinian civilians in Gazaโ.
He focused his presentation on the fact that stakeholders must return to the framework set by the Security Council and the UN General Assembly to resolve the conflict โ a two-state solution โ and highlighted the ICJโs role in preserving this framework to make a negotiated solution a realistic possibility.
For its part, US efforts aim not only to address the current crisis but โto get beyond where we have been, namely to advance a political settlement that will lead to a durable peace in the region that includes lasting security for Israeli and Palestinian and a path to Palestinian statehoodโ.

International law is not an โร la carte menu.โ
Cubaโs representative extended its criticism to the United States, asking the World Court to consider Washingtonโs โcomplicityโ in Israeli policies, including in the supply of weapons to Israel.
โInternational law cannot be an ร la carte menu; it must apply equally to all,โ said Lana Nusseibeh, Assistant Minister for Political Affairs of the Permanent Representation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the UN.
End the occupation: Russia.
โThe occupation must come to an end,โ said Vladimir Tarabrin, Russiaโs ambassador to the Netherlands, advocating for a two-state negotiated solution and pointing to both the โpersistent denial by Israel to the right of self-determinationโ and โthe colonization policy pursued by Israel since 1967โ.
He said more than 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, including Jerusalem. Israelโs settlement activities gained record-breaking speed in 2023, according to the latest report of the UN Secretary-General on the matter, which noted that plans for more than 24,700 housing units were advanced, approved or tendered โ more than double the figure from the previous year.
โThis has effectively undermined the prospects of a negotiated solution,โ he said. He added that Russia hopes the ICJ can contribute to the conflict by stipulating that both parties โare obligedโ to resume peace negotiations.
What is the UN World Court?
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the UN, established in 1945.
- The courtโs role is to subtype international law and legal disputes submitted by States and give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to by authorized UN organs and specialized agencies.
- The committee comprises 15 judges elected for nine-year terms of office by the 193 Member States of the UN General Assembly and the 15-member Security Council.
- Read more about the World Court court in our explainer here.
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