On Tuesday, the Netherlands accused Israel of annexing the occupied Palestinian territories before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“Sovereignty cannot be established over occupied territory and occupied territory cannot be annexed,” said Professor Rene JM Lefeber, representative of the Dutch delegation to the International Court of Justice during public hearings.
Lefeber said that the occupation, which is a “temporary use of force”, could be qualified as “annexation” if it were permanent.
“An important provision under the law of occupation is that the occupying power may not deport or transfer parts of the civilian population to the territory it occupies,” Lefeber added.
The Dutch representative also reminded that the right to self-determination is a “universal and permanent right”.
“As a result, the state occupying the territory has an obligation to respect the right to self-determination of the peoples living in that territory,” Lefeber pointed out.
Public hearings began Monday in The Hague following a request by the United Nations General Assembly for an advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Al-Quds (Jerusalem).
A total of 52 countries, including Turkey, as well as the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the African Union, will hold 30-minute oral presentations.
At the session on Tuesday, in addition to South Africa, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh and Belgium presented their arguments.
29,195 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7.
On January 26, following a genocide lawsuit filed by the Republic of South Africa, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel must refrain from any actions related to the killing, attacks and destruction of the residents of the Gaza Strip and take all measures to prevent genocide.
According to the United Nations, due to the Israeli offensive, 85 percent of the population of the Gaza Strip has been internally displaced and faces an acute shortage of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60 percent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.
