men, women, and children. these are the root causes of the situation we face today. these same causes are the subject of the general assembly's request for advisory opinion. 20 years after his historic wall opinion, the court now has the entire question of palestine squarely before it. the general assembly did not mense its words when it pos two clear and and complementary questions. question a, calls upon the court to assess the legality of israel's individual policies and practices and its occupation of the palestinian territories, which i will refer of to as the obt. question a further calls upon the court to state the corresponding legal consequences of each of these policies and the practices. question p in turn as the court to answer a simple but historic questions and light of numerous illegalities.

in the conduct of the occupation, has the occupation itself become illegal? if the answer is to that question is yes, which qatars, which is qatar submission, and the consequence is obvious, the occupation must be brought to an end. mr. president, members of the court, qatar's intervention will cover three topics: first, i will briefly explain why the court give should give the advisory of opinion requested by the general assembly. of second, with reference to question a, i will recall israel's main illegal policies and the practices in the obt and explain that they are not isolated or accidental, but they are part of israel's longest standing settler colonial project in palestine. third, and of finally, i will set forth qatar's position on question b concerning the legal status of the occupation. i turn now to my first topic

propriety of the court rendering the advisory opinion. mr. president, i do not, i, i need not to repeat what you have already heard from numerous participants this week. the court in equivocally has a jurisdiction and there is no compelling reason for it to refuse it to refuse to give its opinion. in particular, the courts, the courts, the court's opinion would not underestimate. or undermine the possibility of negotiated solution to the conflict. qatar explained why in its written comments, the so-called peace of process is dead. to provide the court with relevant historical context, partar engaged two most prominent historians of the israeli palestinian conflicts alive today. one palestinian, professor rashid khalid of columbia university and one israeli professorlim of oxford university. professor

khalidi and shalim prepared two comprehensive reports covering a century of histories from 1917 to 2023, you can find those reports at tabs two and two of your folders. professor shalim's report is devoted to the history and diplomacy of the of the israeli palestinian conflict from 1967 and to today. he explains, he explains. how during this time israel has consistently obstructed negotiated solution, rather than pursuing genuine peace, israel used to the so-called peace as a diplomatic cover for its colonization of palestine. in this context, it's difficult to see what harmed the advisory opinion, the court's advisory opinion could possibly have a non-existent peace of process, the contrary, the absence of a viable piece of... process

only underscores the necessities of the court's advisory opinion and the solution and solution based on international law. i turn now to my second topic concerning question a and the israel's illegal policies and practices of the obt. mr. president, members of the court, israel's illegal and discriminatory policies and practices are the of tool the tools of long standing settler colonial project. as qatar explain in its written statement, these are these policies are designed to promote a single goal, the permanent colonization of the obt for the exclusive benefit of israel and the jewish israeli settlers. this goal is essentially linked to israel's oppressive and discriminatory practices and the obt and is the root cause of the cycles of violence there. in chapter two of its written statement, other. in detail the eight main

categories of discriminatory policies and the practices that israel employees in furtherness of its setter colonial project in chapter th of its statement, qatar explained that these policies and the practices inailland violation of international law, human rights law, and constitutes a crime against humanity, war crimes, genocide and ethnic cleansing. it is position that in order to fully respond to question a, the court should assess the legality of each of israel's main policies and practices. through these lenses, a fullsome response to question a, is no less than a clear answer to question p, the court should not underestimate that the impact that finding of the of fact and law will have in bringing israel's specific policies and practices to an end, to encouraging accountability and to provide

victims with the sense of justice. and the limited, and the limited time i have today, i will briefly call some specific points about the eight main categories of policies in the... practices carried out by israel in the obt, the first central features of israel settlers colonial project is of course settlement. the establishment and development of jewish israeli settlements in the opt began immediately after israel occupied occupied it in 1967. israel establishes jewish israeli settlements on seized palestinians and finances and facilitates the construction of housing and destructions and incentivises jews from around the world to suffer there. by 2023, over 700 thousand settlers, or approximately 11% of jewish israelis were living in the obt. the settlementts activities is relentless in a

january 2024 report, which you have, which you can find a tab three of your folders, the israeli human rights group peace now ex explain how the war inqa has been exploited as cover for unprecedented surge and settlement activities. the same is happening in east jerusalem and evenqa is now at risk. the israeli security ministers recently stated that quote, not only do not rule out jewish settlement inqa. i believe it is also an important think inqu on january 28, 2024, a conference dedicated to the resettlement of fazza was held in occupied salam, which was attended by 12 israeli government ministers. mr. president, remembers of the court, let me

pause here to make a brief remark about the situation as it relates to the advisory proceedings, the contentious proceedings instituted. by south africa against israel under the genocide convention do not mean that the recent situation inqa should not be addressed here. qazza is part of the obt. it was occupied before october 7 and it is occupied today. israel's policies and practices refer to in a question a includes its policies and the practices in kazza. the court will examine the situation in cazza through the the lens of the genocide. convention and the case of brought by south africa, here the court can and indeed must apply all aspects of international law to the situation in gaza, including will before chapter before october 7. this bring me to

israel's second central policy and practice in the obt, which is displacement. in order to establish settlements in the obt, israel seizes public and the private land. and forceably disapplaces palestinians. it does so through home demilitions, fictions, building restrictions and by establishing buffer or military zones. again, the situation has only grown worse since october 7. as is well established, israel had forcibly displaced at least 75% of the population. this policy is promoted by israeli leaders as a solution to their palestinian demographic problem, israeli minister of culture stated that the palestinians, quote can go to island or to the desert, the masters in qazza should find the solution by themselves, and quote, while

all eyes may be on qaza, the situation west bank is rapidly deteriorating, at least 13 different communities in the west bank have faced force discipline. since october 7, that has resulted in the north, south stretch of 20 km east of ramallah being cleared of nearly all palestinians. "the third israeli practices is fragmentation, in order implement their demographic and physical control necessary to perpetuate the occupation and establish further settlements, israel divides and isolate palestinians, the it relegates them to fragmented enclaves, restricts their movement and renders their daily lives all but unlivable. this is what namibia and belies abbitly referred as strategic fragmentation, israel has imposed a

full blockad inqa since 2007, entirely cutting its population off from the rest of the world. october 7 had already been described by the un secretary general as hell on earth. today it is indescriib describable. in the west bank, israel has for decades implemented a system of draconian checkpoints, subjecting millions of palestinians to daily indignities. human rights watch has documented, quote, more than 40 kilometers of west bank roads that authorities prohibit palestinians from travelling on in court. since october 7, israel has implemented unprecedented lockdown on the entire civilian territory of the west bank. that has a closed much of its fast network of checkpoints completely cutting off

cities, towns and villages from each other. the fourth practice that characterizes israel occupation is its discriminatory and unlawful violence. israeli forces and jewish israeli settlers, often with the support of the state, use violence to crash even non-violent resistance to the occupation and to perpetuate a climate of fear and repression. israeli violence has been part of fabric of the fabric of of fly for palestinians even before the beginning of the occupation in 1967 and ghazza has always paid the highest price and the 15 years before october 7 israeli military campaigns killed 5,365 palestinians in kazza, the majority of home were undisputedly civilians. of course, this this shocking statistics fails in a comparison to what we have in the past four

months. at the same time, the court cannot ignore the ever worsening situation in the west bank. since october 7, 397 palestinians have been killed across the west bank and 450-53 have been injured. even before october 7, 234 palestinian. were killed in 2024, which was the highest number on record. civilian casualties are not just collateral damage on in israeli attacks, they are the main target. the use of foreplanes, arm drones, attack helicopters and missiles was once unprecedented in the in the west bank, now it is routine. mr. president, members of the court, israel's victim. are often children, they include five year old who was

shot in the back by israeli forces on january 7th, a military checkpoint in the west bank, her body was withhold withheld from her family by israeli forces for 10 days, for 10 days, just last week israeli forces also shot 16 old nahil in the head, killing him as was leaving school, nahil was the 100 palestinian child killed by israeli forces in the worst bank since october 7. this brings me to the fifth practice implemented by israel, which is its discriminatory military legal system in the obt. this system privileges jewish israeli settlers while debriving palestinians the most basic legal protections. a biller of this system is the practice of indefinite. with administrative detention of palestinians without charges. as we detailed in our

written statement, this a practice what was wide spread before october 7. it was, its use has been has increased excessively since then and what some, and what some rights group have characterized as mass enforced disappearances. in the past four months alone. thousands of palestinians have been placed in administrative detentions, they are rounded up, blindfolded, disrobbed, humiliated and detained and you can find detail reporting at tabs 5 and six of your folders. in the interest of time, i will not detail the three remaining policies and the practices that characterize israel's occupation, which are discussed in chapter

two of the of qatar's written statement. these practices are six, the eradicate. and suppression of all manifestations of palestinian's culture and religion in the obt, seventh, the economic oppression of palestinians and the exploitations of the obt's natural resources and eight, the systematic persecution and suppression of all those who attempt to document or pursue accountability for the occupation such as human rights organizations and journalists. this includes al jazeera, shirin who was murdered by israeli forces on may 11, 2022. mr. president, members of the court, these eight discriminatory practices and policies are among those that the court is called upon to assess and answering question a few

jointly, they reveal the true nature of the the occupation as illegal as illegal settler colonial regime. i will turn now to the final portion of qatar's presentations concerning the legal status of the occupation and the response to question b. mr. president, member the court, the written statements and comments that addressed in question b overwilmingly endorsed finding by the court that the israeli occupation of the obt is illegal. this was expressed, this this was the expressed conclusion of at least 38 participant in these proceedings, with at most two states reaching the opposite conclusion, those participants finding that the occupation is illegal offered a number of

lines of analysis to support their shared conclusion, this is surprisingly, unsurprising, israel's occupations has violated so many fundamental principles of international law that it would be hard to point to just one reason for its illegality. in chapter three of qatar's written comments we identified five main reasons as to why israel's occupations of the opt is illegal. with its written comments, qatar also submitted detailed. appendicts comply compiling relevant statements by participating states and organizations, these can be found of at tabs 7 to 15 of your folders, we hope that qatar's analysis will be helpful for the court's work. i i shall briefly watch the court through five reasons

for the illegality of the occupation: first, the occupation. and controverses the just scogan obligation to respect the right of self determination of the palestinian people. 39 states and international organizations found that the occupation violates the right of self determination. 28 of those participants underscored that the occupation has become illegal for this reason. second, israel's occupation also violates just koken's prohibition of appetite to 25 participants endorsed finding of uppertile, among those reaching among those reaching this conclusion, 16 participants underscored that the situation of appetite renders the occupation itself illegal. third, israel's occupation is illegal because it violates

discords prohibition on the use of force. this was the conclusion of eight 18 participants. fourth, by f, by virtue of its illegal annexation of portion of obt, israel has breached yet another discords norm, the prohibition on the acquisition of territory through the use of force. at least 41 participants in in the proceedings have pointed out, have have pointed this out with 31 of them underscoring that the occupation is illegal. as a whole because israel's annexation of the obt is integral feature of the occupation. fifth and finally, israel's occupation is illegal due to the fact that it's not of a temporary. character, not being carried out in good faith or not being administered in the best interest of the occupied population. 17 states reach such

conclusions. mr. president, members of the court, the state of qatar endorses all these, all of these arguments for the illegality of the occupation. while it's of course for the court to decide how best to answer the general assembly the questions be, it is qatar's respectful submission that the court should not limit itself to choosing only one these grounds for illegality. unlike contentious cases, judicial economy does not support the adoption of only the narrowest reasoning possible in these proceedings. to the contrary, in the context of an advisory opinion, the court's function is to provide legal advise to the organ requesting the opinion. "there are multiple relevant legal regimes applicable to the situation, and the cour is advised on each of these frameworks will be of immense value to the general

assembly and to the international community at large. in this connection, qatar and many other states attach particular importance to finding that israel's occupation by its nature amounts to a regime of appertite. finding of avertite is not just the most accurate label for what the the occupation has become, it's all it's always it, it also provides a tangible, but a flexible road map for must come next. what ending abortite requires is achieving solution, achieving a situation which all people, israeli and palestinians equally enjoy, their fundamental human rights and dignity, with the requisite finding of avertite by the court. "the international community, including the general assembly, can activate similar mechanism for bringing about an end of the occupation and it did with with the appertite

regime in south africa. this is the surest path to truth, justice, and yes, reconciliation. mr. president, members of the court, the people of the world are looking at you, we are. confident that you will see this historic opportunity to finally bring to an end a century of injustice against the palestinian people. i thank you for your kind attention. i thank the delegation of qatar for its presentation, which brings to a close this morning's hearing. the court will meet again this afternoon at 3 pm to hear the united kingdom, slovenia. ladies and gentlemen, the international court of justice. hague is holding fifth day of hearings on uh the consequences of the israeli occupation of palestinian territories, i believe around 52 countries and number of international bodies are

participating uh in the oral proceedings that we've been following here on press tv for the past uh five days or so the qatari representative was addressing the hearing there, let's quickly go over what was just said, the gatai representative first of all slammed uh the israeli genocidal war in gaza here. also stated that what's happening now in gaza is the biggest threat to national security and the israeli occupation, he mentioned must end uh and that uh the israeli violence has been a fabric of life for palestinians uh not just now but ever since the creation of the israeli regime, he added that civilians are the main targets of the israely tattacks on the gaza strip and uh with regards to what's taking place uh occupied territories in uh the west bank, he said that the israeli legal system favors jewish settlers over palestinians and that thousands of palestinians have faced israeli administrative detention in the past months.

our correspondent max chively is joining us now uh live from the hague outside uh the icj to talk to some more about uh what's been said in the fifth day of hearings on the consequences of the israeli occupation of palestinian territories. max, over to you. yeah. in the back of the icj uh peace palace uh for security reason we will soon report from from the palace from the peace palace itself soon uh well um as you mentioned before uh the large majority of uh submissions provided by uh the states have condemned israel's uh policies and practices in the... occupied palestinian territories, we've heard what the qatari representative has just said before we had the namibian representative who uh said, that um asked the

court for a clarification over the concept of appetite, she asked the the court, why is appetite expressly prohibited in south africa and not, and this doesn't count for israel, she also talked about inhuman acts uh directed against racial group by israel and the with the aim of maintaining domination on of one racial group over the other um also another extremely interesting point was raised before about the difference between the annexation and occupation, a prolonged occupation is defactor accession because the differences between occupation and and

exession dissolve after some time um so it is it is as as the catario representative said the large majority he said 38 38 written statements and oral statements consider israel guilty and it's occupation of palest the palestinian territory unlawful. all right, thanks lot, max press tvs, max chevy joining us from the hague outside of the international court of justice, we are going to keep a close eye on the fifth day of hearings right here on press tv. stay tuned.

"the headlines, israeli forces once again storm, the nasa hospital in southern gaza as the regime's unrelenting air strikes claim more civilian lives elsewhere across the country. the top un court holds the fifth day of public hearings on israel's decades-long occupation of palestinian territories. and also, on our headlines, people in new york hold yet another rally against the us government support for..." israel's genocide in gaza. hello and welcome everybody. it's 3:30 p.m. here in the iranian capital tehran watching press tv's world news. our top story for this salf hour israel uh struck.