2024-02-20
This topic arouses much one-sided opinion, whichever party (or none) to this long-standing conflict one may support.
On the one hand we have Hamas who inflicted a military incursion on Israel back in early October last, resulting in some deaths and taking a limited number of hostages.
On the other hand we have Israel who in self defence has seemingly set about an unrestricted war on the whole Gaza strip, apparently conflating "Hamas" with the entire Palestinian population so that the latter becomes the target for elimination.
Yes, it's vastly more complex than these over-simplified statements, but space here prohibits an in-depth analysis even were I capable to provide such a thing.
But events move on, and the International Court of Justice in the Hague, following their original hearing of South Africa's assertion that Israel is conducting a genocide in Gaza, subsequently issued a demand that Israel should avoid any action that could be so construed, pending announcing a formal ruling.
That demand would appear to have been ignored.
In a separate case, the ICJ is now hearing 52 countries on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem (so only tangentially related to activities in Gaza). The hearing is expected to be completed by 26 February, excluding any announcement of judgement.
"The case was triggered by a request from the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on December 30, 2022, when a majority of members voted to seek the court’s opinion on the legal consequences of the continuing Israeli occupation of Palestine"
"According to Human Rights Watch, Israel’s policies in the occupied territories amount to apartheid and persecution, both crimes against humanity"
Yes, the legal wheels grind very slow, and we have yet to find out how fine. Given the complexity of the various international laws involved in this case, their deliberations may be unlikely to produce an early result.
(14 minutes)
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