Human Rights Watch reported on Friday that a record number of countries and international bodies are expected to participate in the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) oral hearings regarding the Israeli 75-year-long occupation, with the ICJ focusing specifically on the past 57 years of the occupation, beginning in 1967.

According to the NGO, fifty-two countries and three international organizations are set to participate in the proceedings. 

"The International Court of Justice is set for the first time to broadly consider the legal consequences of Israel’s nearly six-decades-long occupation and mistreatment of the Palestinian people," said Clive Baldwin, senior legal adviser at Human Rights Watch. "Governments that are presenting their arguments to the court should seize these landmark hearings to highlight the grave abuses Israeli authorities are committing against Palestinians, including the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution."

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The proceedings were initiated in December 2022 when the United Nations General Assembly submitted a request for an advisory opinion by the ICJ to assess the legal toll of "Israel's" apartheid policies on the occupied Palestinian territories. The General Assembly made a similar request in 2003, following which the ICJ advisory opinion determined the route of "Israel's" separation barrier violated international law and advocated for its dismantlement. 

These proceedings are therefore distinct from the ones initiated by South Africa in December last year. They are considered "wider in scope" and will specifically focus on the "legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation" of the occupied Palestinian territory, including "its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures," and on the legal ramifications of the occupation and the practices of "Israel" for all nations and the UN.

They are scheduled to start on February 19 and will last for six days, the NGO says. 

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