A day after vetoing requires a right away cease-fire in Gaza, the United States on Wednesday defended Israel’s decades-long occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, arguing on the United Nations’ highest court docket that Israel confronted “very real security needs.”
The newest U.S. protection of Israel on the worldwide stage got here on the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the place Richard C. Visek, the performing authorized adviser on the U.S. State Department, urged a 15-judge panel to not name for Israel’s fast withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territory. He mentioned that solely the institution of an unbiased Palestinian state alongside Israel might result in lasting peace, repeating a longstanding U.S. place however one whose prospects seem much more elusive amid the warfare in Gaza.
The court docket is listening to six days of arguments over the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian-majority territories, together with the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which has been the topic of years of debates and resolutions on the United Nations. The hearings — involving greater than 50 nations — have been known as lengthy earlier than Israel went to warfare in opposition to Hamas in Gaza, however have turn out to be a part of a concerted world effort to cease the battle and look at the legality of Israel’s insurance policies towards Palestinians.
Israel has mentioned it might not take part within the hearings, and despatched a letter to the court docket final yr arguing that the main focus of the proceedings didn’t “recognize Israel’s right and duty to protect its citizens” or its proper to safety.
The United States has strongly defended Israel through the warfare, together with on Tuesday, when it solid the lone veto in opposition to a U.N. Security Council decision that known as for a right away cease-fire, saying it might disrupt efforts to free hostages held in Gaza.
On Wednesday, Mr. Visek requested the court docket to uphold the “established framework” for peace that he mentioned U.N. our bodies have agreed to — one that’s contingent on a “broader end to belligerence” in opposition to Israel — relatively than heed calls by different nations for Israel’s “unilateral and unconditional withdrawal” from occupied territories.
The Oct. 7 Hamas-led assaults on Israel have been a reminder of the threats dealing with the nation and of its safety wants, Mr. Visek mentioned, “and they persist.”
“Regrettably, those needs have been ignored by many of the participants in asserting how the court should consider the questions before it,” he mentioned, referring to others nations’ testimony within the hearings.
The court docket, which usually hears staid disputes amongst nations, has recently turn out to be a venue for nations to oppose Israel. Last month, South Africa argued on the court docket that Israel was committing genocide in opposition to Palestinians in Gaza — a cost Israel strongly rejected. The judges haven’t dominated on that declare, however issued an interim order for Israel to take steps to stop genocide in Gaza.
On Tuesday, South Africa forcefully condemned Israel’s insurance policies in opposition to Palestinians, calling them “a more extreme form of apartheid,” the race-based system of legal guidelines that disadvantaged Black South Africans for many years.
Israel has lengthy rejected accusations that it operates an apartheid system, calling such allegations a slur and pointing to what it says is a historical past of being singled out for condemnation by U.N. our bodies and tribunals.
The United States has remained Israel’s staunchest defender internationally. But the Biden administration, below rising strain from components of the Democratic Party, has additionally proven indicators of impatience with Israel’s conduct of the warfare, the rising toll in Gaza and the plight of Palestinians below Israeli occupation.
President Biden this month mentioned that Israel’s army response in Gaza — which started after Hamas’s Oct. 7 assaults — had been “over the top” and that the immense civilian struggling had “got to stop.” The remarks got here days after Mr. Biden imposed broad monetary sanctions in opposition to 4 Israeli males over violent assaults in opposition to Palestinians within the West Bank.
After the hearings, that are scheduled to conclude on Monday, the court docket will give an advisory opinion, a call that’s anticipated to take a number of months. The opinion will likely be nonbinding.
Cassandra Vinograd contributed reporting.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/02/21/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news
