The Arab League says failure to end Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories has led to the current trend of savagery followed by Israel against the Palestinian people.
“This prolonged occupation is an affront to international justice,” Abdel Hakim El-Rifai, the 22 Arab-country bloc’s representative, told judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Monday.
“The failure to bring it to an end has led to the current horrors perpetrated against the Palestinian people, amounting to genocide.”
The ICJ entered its last day of week-long hearings upon a request from the United Nations.
Speakers on Monday warned a prolonged occupation posed an “extreme danger” to stability in West Asia and beyond.
Over the past week, the judges of the world court have heard statements from more than 50 countries and international organizations. The ICJ is expected to take about six months to issue its order.
On the final day of the hearings, the representative of Turkey underscored the Israeli occupation as the root cause of conflicts in the region.
African Union envoys also urged the world court to seize the opportunity to end the impunity Israel enjoys in its treatment of the Palestinians.
Israel’s great benefactor, the United States, has said the regime should not be legally obliged to withdraw from Gaza without taking its “very real security needs” into account.
The hearing before the court is separate from a case brought by South Africa against Israel for genocide during its campaign in Gaza. In that case, the ICJ ruled that Israel should do everything in its power to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza and allow in humanitarian aid.
The regime keeps the savage campaign goingremains reluctant to abide by the rules.
Only since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed nearly 30,000 people, a considerably large number of them women and children, in Gaza.
