Qatar tells the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that it rejects the “double requirements” when worldwide legislation applies to some however to not others throughout a listening to on Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
“Some youngsters are deemed worthy of safety whereas others are killed of their hundreds,” senior Qatari diplomat Mutlaq al-Qahtani mentioned on Friday in The Hague.
“Qatar rejects such double requirements. Worldwide legislation should be upheld in all circumstances. It should be utilized to all, and there should be accountability”.
Al-Qahtani added that Israel had carried out an “apartheid regime” to take care of the “domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians”.
He additionally mentioned the occupation is “unlawful” on account of it violating the Palestinian individuals’s proper to self-determination.
The courtroom has the “clear mandate and certainly the accountability to treatment this unacceptable scenario. The credibility of the worldwide authorized order is determined by your opinion, and the stakes can’t be greater.”
Qatar, america and Egypt are at present mediating negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to cease the present struggle, which is taking a devastating toll on Palestinian civilians within the Gaza Strip.
Over the previous week, the ICJ has been listening to the opinion of greater than 50 international locations on the authorized implications of Israel’s occupation forward of the courtroom issuing a nonbinding opinion.
The 15-judge panel has been requested to evaluate Israel’s “occupation, settlement and annexation, … together with measures geared toward altering the demographic composition, character and standing of the Holy Metropolis of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of associated discriminatory laws and measures”.
However Qatar echoed comparable statements from a number of international locations in calling out Israel’s coverage as a breach of worldwide legislation, together with South Africa, which additionally referred to the occupation as “apartheid”.
Representatives from a number of different international locations, together with Pakistan, Norway, Indonesia and the UK, spoke at Friday’s listening to.
Pakistani Minister for Legislation and Justice Ahmed Irfan Aslam mentioned that whereas Israel had tried to make its occupation of the Palestinian territories irreversible, historical past has proven that change is feasible, referring to the withdrawal of French settlers from Algeria in 1962.
He added {that a} two-state answer “should be the idea for peace”.
Norway’s consultant mentioned developments on the bottom “give purpose to ask whether or not the occupation is popping right into a de facto annexation”, which is prohibited below worldwide legislation.
Indonesian International Minister Retno Marsudi, who mentioned she left the G20 assembly in Brazil to deal with the ICJ personally, acknowledged: “I stand earlier than you to defend justice towards a blatant violation of worldwide humanitarian legislation that’s being dedicated by Israel.”
Marsudi added that Israel’s “illegal occupation” shouldn’t be normalised or recognised, all actions that cease the Palestinian individuals’s proper to self-determination “shall be illegal” and it’s clear that its “apartheid regime” is in breach of worldwide legislation.
The British consultant was the one particular person to divert from what different international locations had mentioned on Friday and as a substitute aligned with the US, who referred to as on the courtroom to reject issuing an advisory opinion.
The consultant mentioned that whereas Israel’s occupation is against the law, it’s a “bilateral dispute”, and issuing an opinion would have an effect on the safety framework led by the United Nations Safety Council.
The hearings are, partially, a push by Palestinian officers to get worldwide authorized establishments to research Israel’s occupation, particularly in gentle of the present struggle on Gaza.
In the course of the previous 4 months and after Hamas’s October 7 assaults in southern Israel, which killed 1,139 Israelis, Israel has performed a army marketing campaign in Gaza, which has resulted within the deaths of greater than 29,000 Palestinians.
Within the occupied West Financial institution, settler violence has elevated, and world leaders have issued sanctions to attempt to penalise and curb the assaults.
Israel, which isn’t attending the listening to, has mentioned the courtroom proceedings might be dangerous to reaching some type of negotiated settlement.
