Illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine must end, UAE tells ICJ
Israel’s occupation of Palestine is “illegal and must end” through a two-state solution, UAE ambassador to the UN Lana Nusseibeh told the world body’s top court yesterday.
“The horrors that have unfolded over the last few months, the 7 October attack on Israel, the destruction of the Gaza Strip, and the oppression in the West Bank underscore the desperate need for realising the two-state solution,” Ms Nusseibeh told a panel of 15 judges at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
“In the context of this grim reality, the court’s advisory opinion is appropriate, it is urgent and it is necessary. The Palestinian people have suffered for far too long under an occupation that is seemingly immune from international law.”
Ms Nusseibeh spoke as hearings into the legality of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories – including East Jerusalem – entered their third day. The hearings are not directly related to the conflict in Gaza but instead follow a 2022 resolution by the UN General Assembly that called on the ICJ to offer an advisory, non-binding opinion on the occupation.
A record 52 countries, plus the Arab League, Organisation of Islamic Co-operation and African Union, asked to speak.
The hearings will probably play an important role in discussions about the establishment of a Palestinian state, which have been imperilled by Israel’s occupation, Ms Nusseibeh said. She began her 30-minute statement by affirming the UAE’s recognition of the ICJ’s importance in clarifying legal frameworks, which she
described as “critical at a time of growing polarisation over when and how international law is applied”.
“International law cannot be an a la carte menu; it must apply equally to all,” said Ms Nusseibeh.
“And it is all the more essential in the long shadow cast by the Palestinian question: an injustice that has persisted for more than seven decades.”
The Gaza war, now in its fifth month, has highlighted the increasing violations in occupied Palestinian territories as Israel breaches international law, including provisions laid out in the fourth Geneva Conventions to protect civilians, said Ms Nusseibeh.
“The level of human suffering faced by civilians in Gaza – primarily women and children – is on a scale seldom seen in the modern era,” she said.
Israel has imposed collective punishment against Palestinian people by repeatedly issuing “so-called evacuation orders” that in effect seek to transfer Palestinians forcibly. “Israel has also failed its duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population in Gaza,” she added. “Israel has further failed to protect the wounded and sick.”
The death toll in Gaza has risen to more than 29,300, the Gaza Health Ministry says, as aid agencies and some Israeli allies including the US sound alarm bells about Israel’s intention to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
“That offensive would leave the approximately 1.5 million displaced Gazans taking refuge in the city with nowhere to go,” said Ms Nusseibeh. “These plans have been met with the international community’s resounding rejection.”
In parallel, settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has been on the increase, sparking largely symbolic US and UK sanctions in the past weeks against individual settlers.
“After decades of violent dehumanisation, dispossession and despair, the breaches resulting from the Israeli occupation in all parts of the occupied Palestinian territory are worsening at an alarming pace,” said Ms Nusseibeh.
She also highlighted Israeli violations in East Jerusalem, which Israel seized, along with Gaza and the West Bank, in 1967. Jerusalem’s “unique character” as a city that is holy for all three Abrahamic religions has been undermined by Israeli measures, including excavations and tunnelling, that have erased its cultural heritage, said the ambassador.
By its very nature, occupation cannot be permanent, said Ms Nusseibeh. Yet Israeli officials have stated their desire to remain present in occupied territories and encouraged settler presence to expand – currently reaching 700,000 people in the West Bank.
“Israel’s occupation is – as the vast majority of participants in these proceedings have recognised – illegal and must end,” she added.
Israel must comply with all its obligations as an occupying power, said Ms Nusseibeh. “This includes bringing in food and medical supplies to the Gaza strip and ending forcible transfers of Palestinians. In practical terms, it must mean a ceasefire,” she said.
Should the ICJ consider Israel’s occupation illegal, countries would also be under the obligation to co-operate to bring an end to Israel’s breaches, said Ms Nusseibeh. For the UAE, “diplomatic engagement and dialogue can be effective tools to encourage compliance and cessation of unlawful conduct,” she said.
“But where these tools fail, third states’ obligations remain, as do the other instruments of the international system, including the General Assembly, the Security Council, and the Court that sits in this Great Hall of Justice,” added Ms Nusseibeh.
As the permanent representative of the UAE, which just completed its term in the UN Security Council, Ms Nusseibeh invited the ICJ to consider the implications for states in the exercise of their vote.
“Voting against or preventing the adoption of a Security Council resolution that seeks to put an end to serious breaches of international law cannot be compatible with such obligations,” she said.
The US on Tuesday blocked for the third time a resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. It pushed instead for a temporary ceasefire linked to the release of hostages held by Hamas.
The level of human suffering faced by civilians in Gaza is on a scale seldom seen in the modern era
LANA NUSSEIBEH
UAE ambassador to the UN