South African delegates asserted that Palestinians are suffering from a regime of apartheid as a result of Israel’s occupation of the region.
Representatives from South Africa stated that the occupation is “inherently and fundamentally illegal” during the second day of hearings at the International Court of Justice about Israel’s control over the West Bank, Gaza, and annexed East Jerusalem.
The hearings come after the United Nations General Assembly requested the Netherlands-based court in 2022 to make a non-binding advisory opinion on the legality of Israel’s policies in occupied Palestinian territories.
“We as South Africans sense, see, hear and feel to our core the inhumane, discriminatory policies and practices of the Israeli regime as an even more extreme form of the apartheid that was institutionalized against Black people in my country,” Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa’s ambassador, told the ICJ’s 15-judge panel.
More than 50 countries, alongside three international organizations, are set to make arguments during the hearings, which are expected to last until Feb. 26. Much of the international community considers Israel’s occupation illegal, something codified as long ago as November 1967 through the United Nations Resolution 242.
“It is clear that Israel’s illegal occupation is also being administered in breach of the crime of apartheid… It is indistinguishable from settler colonialism. Israel’s apartheid must end,” Madonsela also stated.
Israel is not participating in the hearings. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to recognize their legitimacy. His office said they were “designed to harm Israel’s right to defend itself against existential threats.”
Israel took control of the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war, according to AP. The government has established settlements on the West Bank that are home to 500,000 Jewish settlers. The Palestinians…
Read the full article here
