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Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki slammed Israel during an International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearing on Monday, accusing the Jewish state of “genocide” and “illegal occupation.”
Al-Maliki asked the court to “declare that the Israeli occupation is illegal” and that jurists push Israel to withdraw its control of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria “immediately, totally and unconditionally.”
He added that Israel is guilty of “ethnic cleansing, apartheid, or genocide” against Palestinians.
Attorney Paul Reichler, representing the PA, argued that Israel’s ultimate goal is usurpation of all Palestinian territories in Judea and Samaria.
“Senior Israeli officials admit their objective is sovereignty over all the territory over the Green Line,” Reichler charged.
“There is no reason not to take them at their word because their deeds are consistent with them.”
Israel “has been steadily annexing Palestinian territory and the objective is the permanent acquisition of this territory and to exercise sovereignty over it, in defiance of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force,” he added.
Last year, the UN General Assembly asked the ICJ to provide an advisory opinion regarding the legality of Israel’s communities in Judea and Samaria, along with its control of eastern Jerusalem.
Israel maintains that the dispute regarding territorial divisions with the Palestinian Authority is a political matter and therefore does not recognize the ICJ’s jurisdiction in the case.
Jerusalem did not send attorneys to present counter arguments to the claim, and the court’s decision is not legally binding for Israel.
Notably, the ICJ issued a ruling in 2004 demanding that Israel take down the security barrier, which divides pre-1967 Israel from Palestinian towns and cities in Judea and Samaria.
The barrier was constructed during the Second Intifada in order to reduce terrorism.
Israel ignored that ICJ ruling, with little to no real world consequences.
