The International Court of Justice, the highest court of the UN, is holding a hearing on Thursday and Friday to hear the point of view of the Jewish state. The Palestinian NGO Al-Haq hopes that Israel will be condemned for what it describes as genocide in the Gaza Strip.
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Is Israel committing genocide in the Gaza Strip? This is the serious question submitted to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. While the fighting continues in the Middle East, the highest court of the UN is holding a hearing on Thursday January 11 and Friday January 12, to hear the arguments of the Jewish state, but also those of South Africa, a country fervent defender of the Palestinian cause and the originator of this request.
The human rights organization Al-Haq, based in Ramallah in the West Bank, has high expectations from this procedure.
The NGO’s offices are located on the second floor of a building in the backyard. Its general director, Shawan Jabarin, sits in a room. A timeline of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict covers the walls, the years 2023-2024 do not yet appear.
The October 7 massacres committed by Hamas are only a response, according to him, to years of colonization and Israeli provocation. For this historic promoter of a Palestinian state, considered terrorist by Israel, the alleged genocide in the Gaza Strip is beyond doubt. “They targeted civilians. Until today they have killed around 9,000 children. They have completely wiped out more than 25 hospitals. They have cut off everything in Gaza.”
The NGO demands that France take a position
At the end of October, Shawan Jabarin met Emmanuel Macron. A frank meeting, he summarizes, where he asked for a position from France, a State party to the Genocide Convention. “Who can give them the right to kill and target civilians? he asks himself. Where do we find this, in what law, in what religion, in what philosophy? Who can give them the right to do this and commit this level of war crimes and crimes against humanity?”
“It is time to stop all these actions and respect international law so that Palestinians can exercise their self-determination. This is the only way to build peace.”
Shawan Jabaringeneral director of the NGO Al-Haq
For him, the United States is complicit with Israel which rejects “these accusations of genocide with disgust”. For its part, Washington considers the South African request unfounded, counterproductive and based on no facts.