- ICJ to hear views on legal consequences of Israeli occupation of Palestine on Feb. 19
- Jakarta also supports South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, FM Retno Marsudi says
Indonesia is preparing legal arguments for an International Court of Justice hearing to challenge Israel’s occupation of Palestine, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Tuesday.
The ICJ, which is also known as the World Court, will hold public hearings on Feb. 19 at The Hague, where parties are scheduled to give their views on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
The ICJ will eventually issue a non-binding advisory opinion for the UN General Assembly, which adopted a resolution for the request in December 2022, before the latest Israeli escalation that has killed over 24,000 Palestinians and displaced about 1.9 million.
“Indonesia supports the General Assembly’s effort in requesting an advisory opinion from the ICJ, because international law must be upheld,” Marsudi said ahead of a discussion with international law experts in Jakarta.
She said it was necessary to build a comprehensive legal opinion “to show the world Israel’s blatant violation of international law against Palestine.” She described as illegal Tel Aviv’s annexation of Palestinian territories, its settlements in the West Bank and decision to change the status of Jerusalem.
“Our deliberations today will not only support Indonesia’s diplomacy, but to support the enforcement of world order according to international law and to support our Palestinian brothers and sisters to achieve their independence.”
Indonesia is a staunch supporter of Palestine, with its people and government seeing Palestinian statehood as mandated by the nation’s constitution, which calls for the abolition of colonialism.
The February hearing at the ICJ is separate from the case South Africa launched late last year, which accuses Israel of engaging in “genocidal acts” in Gaza.
Jakarta has not joined the recent case at The Hague as Indonesia is not party to the Genocide Convention.
“Even though we are not party to the Genocide Convention, Indonesia has expressed its support for South Africa to report Israel’s violations of the Genocide Convention to the ICJ,” Marsudi said.
“The main point of all Indonesia’s efforts is to look for all possible ways to continue supporting the Palestinian struggle.”
