Day 5 at ICJ hearing: Oman says Israel must immediately end occupation of Palestinian territory

DUBAI: The International Court of Justice, the UN’s top court, on Friday continued its hearing from dozens of states and three international organizations who question the legality of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Representatives from countries including Qatar, Oman, Pakistan, Malaysia and the United Kingdom were expected to deliver their positions during the fourth day of the hearing at the ICJ, also known as the World Court.

Speakers from the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have already demanded Israel end its occupation of the Palestinian territories, with the Kingdom’s envoy to the Netherlands Ziad Al-Atiyah stating Israel’s continued actions were legally indefensible.

The hearing follows a request by the UN General Assembly for an advisory, or non-binding, opinion on the occupation in 2022. More than 50 states will present arguments until Feb. 26.

Mutlaq Al-Qahtani, Qatar’s ambassador to Netherlands, has told the World Court that “Israel was waging a genocidal war on the people of Gaza”.

“While all eyes are on Gaza, the situation in the West Bank is deteriorating,” Al-Qahtani commented.

In the West Bank, “civilian casualties are not just collateral damage in Israeli attacks, they are the main target… Israel’s victims are often children.”

Pakistan’s Minister for Law and Justice, Ahmed Irfan Aslam, said that while Israel’s annexation of Palestinian lands in East Jerusalem was de jure and the rest of territory was de facto, “the formal characterization matters little.”

“Pakistan believes that the two-state solution must be the basis for peace,” the minister said in his remarks.

As an occupying power, “Israel has disowned its basic duties. Its policies and practices of occupation denied the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and amount to systematic racial discrimination and serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights.”

Oman’s ambassador to Netherlands Sheikh Dr. Abdullah bin Salim bin Hamad Al-Harthi, in his opening statements before the ICJ judges, said that the “international community has failed to assist the people of Palestine in having their own independent state.”

The envoy also told ICJ judges to take into account the illegal annexation of Palestinian land and the obstruction of Palestinian right to self-determination.

“Israel should immediately end the occupation of Palestinian territory,” he said.

“The international community has an obligation to prevent the unlawful annexation of Palestinian land.”