Israel has filed a written submission to the International Court of Justice against its plan to issue an advisory opinion on the legality of its “occupation” of Palestinian territory located over the pre-1967 lines, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The submission of a statement is not indicative of whether it intends to participate further in the ICJ proceedings, including oral arguments likely to be held in early 2024.
Israel has in the past boycotted UN bodies that it believed were anti-Israel or has refused to participate in measures that it holds to be anti-Israel or illegitimate.
Israel’s boycotts of the International Court of Justice
Israel boycotted the ICJ proceeding in 2004 when the ICJ issued an advisory opinion that Israel’s construction of a security barrier on territory over the pre-1967 lines in the West Bank and Jerusalem was illegal.
In 2004, Israel similarly sent a written submission to the ICJ at this point in the proceedings and was one of 48 states to do so. The ICJ is once more rendering an opinion on Israeli actions at the request of the UN General Assembly.
FILE PHOTO: General view of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands January 23, 2020 (credit: REUTERS/EVA PLEVIER/FILE PHOTO)Last December the UNGA voted to seek an advisory opinion on the “legal consequences” of Israel’s “prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.”
The UNGA asked the ICJ to consider how Israeli policies and practices “affect the legal consequences of the occupation” and what the consequences are for the UN and its member states as a result of that status.
UN member states, as well as affiliated groups and non-governmental organizations, had until July 25th to submit legal arguments on the matter. They then have until October 25 to file responses to the submissions.
The ICJ hopes to hold oral hearings early next year on the issues. The submissions will not be public until then but the ICJ could release next week the list of who sent them statements.
But an Israeli source told The Jerusalem Post that Israel was among those who sent in submissions, so it could clarify its position that the UNGA decision “was a mistake.”
Israel in December rejected the UNGA decision to seek an ICJ advisory opinion, which was approved by only 87 of the UN’s 193 member states, it passed, however, because only 26 nations opposed it. The others abstained or were absent.
Israel’s government has long argued that its military hold on the West Bank can not be considered an occupation, both because the territory historically belonged to ancient Israel and because it captured the territory from Jordan which had no legal claim to it.
The Palestinian Authority and Jordan have also submitted statements to the ICJ as has the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
The ICJ advisory opinion, like the one in 2004, is non-binding but the legal opinion rendered can be used by other global bodies such as the international criminal court which is weighing whether or not to allow war crimes suits to be filed against Israelis.
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