Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories 'illegal,' UAE tells UN court

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) – The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday deemed the decades-long Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories as “illegal.”

"The Palestinian people have suffered for far too long under an occupation that is seemingly immune from international law," Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE's permanent ambassador to the UN, said at a hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legal consequences of the Israeli occupation.

Israel has "imposed collective punishment against Palestinian people […] repeatedly issued so-called evacuation orders that in effect seek to transfer Palestinians forcibly" from their homes and areas, she added.

The Emirati representative said the breaches resulting from the Israeli occupation in all parts of the occupied Palestinian territories "are worsening at an alarming pace."

"We convene today while Israel’s grave violations against Palestinians persist with impunity, four months into its military operation in Gaza and following four failures by the Security Council to call for a cease-fire," Nusseibeh said.

She added that the West Bank is too under an Israeli "regime of systemic subjugation" that compounds Palestinian suffering.

Public hearings started Monday in The Hague following the UN General Assembly's request for an advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.

South Africa brought a genocide case against Israel to the ICJ in late December and asked it for emergency measures to end Palestinian bloodshed in Gaza, where more than 29,300 people have been killed since Oct. 7.

The World Court in January ordered Israel to take "all measures within its power" to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza but fell short of ordering a cease-fire.

It also ordered Israel to take "immediate and effective" measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip.

A cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 killed an estimated 1,200 people, but the ensuing Israeli offensive into Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Despite international outcry, Israel now plans a ground invasion of Rafah, which houses around 1.4 million refugees.