Palestinian diplomat asks top UN court to declare Israeli occupation illegal

Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad al-Maliki asked the United Nations’s top court to declare Israeli occupation of the West Bank illegal at a historic hearing opened in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.

The Palestinian diplomat focused on the war in Gaza for much of the case proceedings Monday and told the International Court of Justice that “2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, half of them children, are besieged and bombed, killed and maimed, starved and displaced.”

“More than 3.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank, including in Jerusalem, are subjected to colonization of their territory and racist violence that enables it,” he said, The Associated Press reported.

Al-Maliki called the Israeli occupation “annexation and supremacist in nature” and pressed the court to declare “that the Israeli occupation is illegal and must end immediately, totally and unconditionally.”

The U.N. General Assembly requested a nonbinding advisory opinion into Israel’s policies in the occupied territories, which prompted Monday’s proceedings.

Israel has sharply criticized the hearings, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying Monday the nation does not recognize their legitimacy.

“The discussion at The Hague is part of the Palestinian attempt to dictate the results of the political agreement without negotiations,” Netanyahu said.

In a letter published Monday, Israel said the questions put to the court are prejudiced and “fail to recognize Israel’s right and duty to protect its citizens,” address Israeli security concerns or acknowledge Israel-Palestinians agreements to negotiate issues, including “the permanent status of the territory, security arrangements, settlements, and borders,” the AP reported.

Al-Maliki said a court opinion in their favor could increase chances for peace, telling reporters, “This ruling could help both Palestinians and Israelis to finally live side by side in peace, mutual security and dignity.”

Israel’s letter, however, suggested that outcome would have the opposite effect. The letter criticized the hearing’s portrayal of “villain and victim,” saying such characterizations only bring the two parties further away from peace.

“While the request made to the Court seeks to portray it as such, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a cartoon narrative of villain and victim in which there are no Israeli rights and no Palestinian obligations,” the letter said. “Entertaining such a falsehood can only push the parties further apart rather than help create conditions to bring them closer together.”

The Associated Press contributed.