Slovenia joins UNGA motion to ICJ on Israeli practices in Palestine
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The advisory opinion sought in the ICJ on accusations of breaches of international law against "Israel" comes before South Africa’s case at the court.
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Slovenia's Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023 (AP)
The Slovenian Foreign Minister declared last week that Slovenia is formally joining proceedings in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) seeking an advisory opinion on Israeli control of, and policies in, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and eastern part of al-Quds, a motion preceding South Africa’s genocide legal claim heard in the court last week.
In December 2022, the UN General Assembly voted to request that the ICJ issue an advisory opinion as to whether Israeli conduct in the territories violated international law. Slovenia’s decision to participate in the motion gives it the ability to submit a written position on the issues raised by the UN General Assembly’s request, thereby making it the first European country to do so.
The mentioned proceedings are going to thoroughly look into the ongoing violations by the Israeli occupation of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its ongoing occupation, settlement expansion, and land usurpation in the Palestinian territory occupied since the Nakba, as well as practices in the eastern part of al-Quds and the occupation's discrimination.
At a press conference following the announcement of the Slovenian's government decision, the latter's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Tanja Fajon, stated, “This is a very broad spectrum of alleged violations that have been committed in the region for decades and whose horrific consequences are still visible today.”
Tanja added that Slovenia has consistently called for additional sanctions against Israeli settlers in the West Bank, as well as for the establishment of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, unrestricted humanitarian access, and "the early start of a two-state solution peace process.”
For Solvenia to be able to join the proceedings in South Africa's application to the ICJ charging the occupation with genocide against Palestinians, the court must first decide on whether it has jurisdiction over the matter, and if it does, whether or not to take provisional measures against "Israel". Hence, according to Fajon, Slovenia will be closely monitoring the proceedings until the court decides.
The first hearing for the case is scheduled to take place on February 19.
Read more: Humanity vs. 'Israel'; an illegal occupation tried legally
South Africa v. 'Israel'
January 11 marked the first day of hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), during which South Africa asked the court to oblige "Israel" to immediately stop its military operation in the Gaza Strip.
South Africa's legal team stated, in its opening statement at The Hague, that South Africa has recognized the ongoing Nakba of the Palestinian people through "Israel's" colonization since 1948, "which has systematically and forcibly dispossessed, displaced and fragmented the Palestinian people, deliberately denying them the internationally recognised inalienable right to self-determination and their internationally recognized rights of return as refugees to their towns and villages in what is now the state of Israel."
It also presented The Hague with compelling evidence of genocide.
The South African team stated that Palestinians have been killed by the relentless Israeli bombing wherever Palestinians sought shelter, whether in schools, hospitals, mosques, or churches, "and as they tried to find food and water for their families." They have been killed if they failed to evacuate, killed in the places to which they have fled, and even killed while they attempted to flee along Israeli-declared safe routes. They described the level of killing as "so extensive that those whose bodies are found are buried in mass graves, often unidentified."
