The United States on Wednesday defended Israel’s decades-long occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, arguing at the top UN court that Israel faced “very real security needs.”
The defense came a day after the United States cast its third veto of a call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza at the United Nations Security Council, a vote that drew angry backlash from nations and aid organizations that have called for it to end. or fighting to help the civilians of Gaza.
The latest show of American support for Israel was at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where Richard C. Visek, acting legal adviser to the US State Department, urged a panel of 15 judges not to call for Israel’s immediate withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories. .
He said only the establishment of an independent Palestinian state “living safely and securely alongside” Israel could bring lasting peace, reiterating a long-standing US position but the prospect of which seems even more elusive amid the war in Gaza .
“This conflict cannot be resolved by force or unilateral actions,” Mr Visek said. “Negotiations are the way to a lasting peace.”
The court heard six days of arguments on the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian-majority territories, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which has been the subject of debates and resolutions for years at the UN. The hearings — attended by more than 50 countries — were called long before Israel launched a war against Hamas in Gaza, but have become part of a concerted global effort to end the conflict and examine the legitimacy of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians.
Even as judges heard arguments in the impressive wood-paneled courtroom in the Netherlands, the dynamics of the Israeli occupation were being played out on the ground in the West Bank city of Jenin on Wednesday. In an overnight raid that the Israeli military said was aimed at “terrorism,” Israeli forces killed three people and arrested at least 14 others.
Jenin, a more than 70-year-old refugee camp that is now a bustling neighborhood, has long been a center of armed struggle against Israeli occupation. And Israeli military raids, though common for years, have become much more frequent since Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, which Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people.
Israeli forces have arrested hundreds of Palestinians in raids in the West Bank in recent months. Deadly violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers has reached record levels, while Palestinian attacks on Israelis have also increased, underscoring the immediacy of the process at The Hague.
And late Wednesday, Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, warned that Israel was preparing to operate in the Gaza city of Rafah, near the southern border, once civilians were evacuated there. He added that if no deal is reached to free the hostages still held in Gaza, the Israeli army will continue to operate during the holy month of Ramadan, which begins in March.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have taken refuge in Rafah after being driven from their homes by fighting in Gaza. The international community has condemned Israel’s plan to invade the city because of the huge number of people taking refuge there.
“History will judge us for how we react today,” Yasmin Moussa, a legal adviser to Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the court on Wednesday, as she argued for “the inalienable, permanent and unreserved right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. .”
“One need only look at Israel’s vicious wholesale destruction of Gaza today after years of imposing medieval methods, siege and blockade, to realize the extent of Israel’s violation of this principle,” he said.
The hearings are the first time the court has been asked to give an advisory opinion on the Israeli occupation. The UN General Assembly asked the court to review the legality of Israel’s policies in the Palestinian territories more than a year ago, ahead of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which has killed more than 29,000 people, according to the health authorities of Gaza.
Israel said it would not participate in the hearings and sent a letter to the court last year arguing they were unjustified and did not “recognize Israel’s right and duty to protect its citizens” or its right to security.
The United States has strongly defended Israel’s campaign in Gaza, which began after the October 7 attacks. But while U.S. officials have also urged Israel to scale back its military campaign and do more to protect civilians, U.S. defense of Israel has increasingly put it at odds with even staunch allies like France, the Canada and Japan.
On Tuesday, her isolation was on display at the UN Security Council: She vetoed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, saying it would halt efforts to free hostages held in Gaza. Thirteen other nations supported the resolution and Britain abstained.
On Wednesday, Mr. Visek, the State Department legal adviser, asked the UN court to uphold the “established framework” for peace that he said UN bodies had agreed to — which depends on ” broader end of hostilities against Israel”—rather than heeding calls from other nations for Israel’s “unilateral and unconditional withdrawal” from the occupied territories.
The Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 were a reminder of the threats facing the country and its security needs, Mr. Visek said, “and they persist.”
“Unfortunately, these needs were ignored by many of the participants in arguing how the court should consider the questions before it,” he said, referring to testimony from other countries at the hearings.
Mr Visek’s appearance was immediately preceded by that of Vladimir Tarabrin, Russia’s ambassador to the Netherlands.
When he took the microphone, Mr Tarabrin said Russia valued its “stable relations” with Israel and expressed his condolences on October 7. But in what appeared to be a thinly veiled jab at the United States, he said Russia “cannot accept logic from those who are ‘trying to defend indiscriminate violence against civilians’ in Gaza by invoking Israel’s right to defend itself.”
“Violence can only lead to more violence,” he said. Mr. Tarabrin criticized Israel for many of the same things Russia was accused of doing in its war in Ukraine, including annexation, expulsion, population transfers and other violations of the Geneva Conventions.
Both Russia and the United States have used the hearings to advance their own agendas, and each has accused the other of hypocrisy.
The countries have repeatedly been accused of double standards at the UN, with the United States not pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza while demanding a ceasefire in Ukraine as Russia criticizes Israel for some of the same things it Moscow has done in Ukraine.
The court, which often hears serious disputes between nations, has recently become a venue for countries to oppose Israel. Last month, South Africa argued in court that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza – a charge Israel strongly rejected. The judges have not ruled on that claim, but issued a temporary order for Israel to take steps to prevent genocide in Gaza.
On Tuesday, South Africa condemned Israel’s policies against the Palestinians, calling them “a more extreme form of apartheid,” the racial system of laws that disenfranchised black South Africans for decades.
Israel has long denied accusations that it operates an apartheid system, calling such claims offensive and pointing to what it says is a history of being condemned by UN bodies and courts.
The United States has remained Israel’s staunchest defender internationally. But the Biden administration, under increasing pressure from parts of the Democratic Party, has also shown signs of impatience with Israel’s conduct of the war, the mounting toll in Gaza and the plight of Palestinians under Israeli occupation.
President Biden said this month that Israel’s military response to Gaza was “excessive” and that the massive civilian suffering had to “stop.” The remarks came days after Mr Biden imposed broad financial sanctions on four Israeli men for violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.
After the hearings, which are scheduled to end Monday, the court will issue a non-binding, advisory opinion. This decision is expected to take several months.
