Chief-in-Editor  Prof. Badria A. Al-Awadi

In a remarkable and important international judicial ruling, relating to war crimes and genocide committed by the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip several months ago, on January 26, 2024, the International Court of Justice (affiliated to the United Nations) issued a preliminary ruling in the case brought by the State of South Africa, according to which it ordered Israel to take all measures, within the limits of its authority, to prevent acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention. It also ordered it to prevent and punish genocide, ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and preserve evidence of crimes committed in the Strip. This ruling – despite its preliminary nature – amounts to a conviction of the charges raised by the claimant, and it is a qualitative and major international judicial development, due to the immunity enjoyed by the occupying state in light of the support of major Western countries for it and its policies in the region.
This ruling came in response to the claimant’s demands for the necessity of taking urgent temporary procedures and measures, pending a decision on the substance of the case, after it proved in the sessions held by the court, on January 11 and 12, 2024, that the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip fit the description. The legal framework for crimes of genocide included in the texts of the United Nations Convention, based on documented reports from United Nations agencies. In this, the claimant asserted that these crimes constitute a violation of Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide, especially paragraphs: A, B, C, D; as “Israel committed acts represented in: the mass murder of Palestinians, with the death toll reaching 23,000 (an official figure announced as of the date of preparing the plea), seventy percent of whom – at least – were women and children. And causing serious physical and psychological harm to the Palestinians, and imposing conditions that do not allow them to continue living; by resorting to forced displacement methods, preventing the arrival of food and medical aid, in addition to depriving them of safe and livable shelter, and targeting hospitals and medical centers.”
At a time when the Palestinians and their supporters around the world received this ruling with a glimmer of hope and optimism, the government of the occupying state dealt with it with all contempt and recklessness and announced – in official statements and declarations – its rejection of it, and its challenge to the court’s jurisdiction in the first place. Based on the positions of Western countries that support them in the war of genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, financially, militarily and politically. This reaction was considered expected in light of the numerous and repeated crimes and massacres of this entity, its long history of indifference and disregard for the decisions of international organizations and laws, and its behavior on the basis that it is a state above international law, with immunity for all its crimes.
Although these practices and the policies supporting them have succeeded – to some extent – in covering up the crimes and massacres of this entity, preventing it from being held accountable, and discouraging some parties and entities from working diligently and effectively to stand up to these violations and crimes committed against the Palestinians, this did not prevent the Palestinian people themselves from adhering to their legitimate right to resist the occupation. It is a right guaranteed by international laws and regulations. It also did not prevent the parties and entities supporting Palestinian rights from taking action and taking the initiative.
In this context, the initiative of the State of South Africa came, which is considered a bold and courageous international legal step. On December 29, 2023, South Africa filed a lawsuit before the International Court of Justice, accusing the Israeli occupying state of committing genocide crimes in the Gaza Strip, in clear and open violation of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crimes of Genocide, which was unanimously approved by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1948, and to which Israel is one of 152 signatories. After a preliminary examination of the elements of the case, the court declared its jurisdiction and accepted to hear the case, then it issued its initial ruling on interim measures at the end of January 2024 in favor of the State of South Africa.
International law experts following the case attribute the court’s response to the claimant’s requests to the strength of the legal team, the integrity of the case procedures, and the fairness of the case. They also noted the presence of a strong and free political will on the part of the South African government to file the lawsuit and continue with it, despite pressures related to interests in international relations, which really made it a bold and brave step.
This lawsuit, and the trial that followed, gain their importance from the fact that they broke through the wall of helplessness, paralysis, silence, and even international complicity, and increased pressure on the various parties related to the crimes of the occupation and the Palestinian issue, and constituted legal and political support and solidarity with the persecuted and victims in Gaza. In activating the role of regional organizations, such as: the African Union, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Organization of South American States, some of whose member states decided to sever, or reduce, diplomatic relations with the occupying state. Others announced their intention to join the lawsuit.
The filing of this lawsuit and its acceptance by the International Court of Justice, and the launch of its sessions amid international legal and popular momentum sympathetic to the just cause of the Palestinian people, in light of the brutal genocide crimes committed by the occupation forces in the Gaza Strip, places great and multiple responsibilities on Arab legal experts and organizations, and on the necessity of joint action, and on organized, serious and effective work to hold the perpetrators of war crimes and genocide against the defenseless Palestinian people accountable.