THE HAGUE: Palestinian people's inalienable rights of the to self-determination are being violated day after day by Israel’s acts of genocide, Oman argued before the International Court of Justice in The Hague in a public hearing on Friday.
“For four months the world has witnessed in Gaza one of the worst atrocities, acts of genocide in modern times. More than 29,000 dead and 68,000 wounded, 2.2 million live under very unbearable conditions, being driven from one place to another in clear violation of international norms,” said Shaikh Abdullah bin Salem al Harithi, Oman’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, at the World Court.
“Violation of the right to self-determination, occupation, settlement, and annexation of Palestinian lands occupied by Israel since 1967 impede the realisation of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people,” he said.
“There is an overwhelming international agreement on the existence of the right to self-determination and its continued denial in the occupied Palestinian territories,” he said.
The ambassador stressed that “the court should decide that Israel should put an immediate and unconditional end to this illegal situation, and the need for states to support these efforts.”
Oman presented its arguments after it supported the United Nations General Assembly Resolution (77/247) on December 30, 2022 on Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem. The resolution also included a request for an advisory opinion from the ICJ on the legal consequences and legal status of Israel’s prolonged occupation.
Shaikh Abdullah said there is a broad international consensus confirming the existence of the right to self-determination, but this right continues to be denied in the the occupied Palestinian territories. "This right is established, among other things, in Article 1 (2) of the United Nations Charter, and the United Nations General Assembly has constantly affirmed this right."
The UN Human Rights Council also consistently recognises “the inalienable, permanent and unconditional right of the Palestinian people to self-determination,” he said. The Court must decide that Israel must put an immediate end to all activities, policies and laws that prevent and hinder Palestinians' right to self-determination, and the solution is primarily to end the occupation of the Palestinian territories. He called on the court to recognise the clear responsibility placed on all countries to support the establishment of Palestinian self-determination in line with the resolutions and Charter of the United Nations.
Shaikh Abdullah said the prolonged occupation, settlement, annexation of Palestinian lands, and the continuous and systematic illegal transfer of Israeli citizens to settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory over decades, aims to perpetuate the occupation and make it continuous. This policy is linked to the displacement of Palestinians and the establishment of a coercive system of discrimination, zoning, planning, illegal land seizure, arbitrary detention, and systematic violence since 1967. — ONA
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