Israeli occupation ‘affront to justice,’ Arab League chief tells top UN court
Palestinian government quits amid growing pressure on Abbas for major reform Arab states urged international judges on Monday to rule the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories illegal.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague has been hearing arguments from more than 50 states following a request by the UN General Assembly in 2022 to issue a non-binding opinion on the legal consequences of the Israeli occupation.
On the sixth and final day of hearings, Arab League SecretaryGeneral Ahmed Aboul Gheit described the occupation as “an affront to international justice,” and Turkiye described the occupation as “the real obstacle to peace.” Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmet Yildiz told judges the occupation was the root cause of conflict in the region.
The vast majority of about 60 states who have addressed the court asked judges to declare the occupation illegal.
Tthe Biden administration in the US said last week that Israel’s expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank was inconsistent with international law, signaling a return to long-standing US policy that had been reversed by the previous administration of Donald Trump.
The court hearings closed on Monday and a date for a decision will be announced in due course, the court said. The 15-judge panel is expected to take about six months to issue their non-binding opinion on the occupation.
World powers have also pressed Palestinian factions to end their own divisions over their response to Israel’s occupation, the war in Gaza and what political system might follow it.
That pressure bore fruit on Monday when the Palestinian government resigned to pave the way for a political consensus on a political structure to govern Gaza after the conflict.
Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, an academic economist who took office in 2019, said the next administration would need to take account of “the emerging reality in Gaza,” which has been laid waste by Israel in nearly five months of heavy fighting.
He said the next stage would require new governmental and political arrangements, national unity talks, and addressing the urgent need for an inter-Palestinian consensus. The Palestinian Authority should govern all of Palestine, including Gaza, he said.
The move comes amid growing US pressure on President Mahmoud Abbas to shake up the Authority as international efforts intensify to stop the fighting in Gaza and begin work on a political structure to govern the enclave after the war.
The Palestinian Authority has been accused of ineffectiveness and corruption and the prime minister holds little effective power. Shtayyeh’s departure marks a symbolic shift that underlines Abbas’s determination to ensure that the PA maintains its claim to leadership as international pressure grows for the creation of a Palestinian state.