US asks world court not to call for Israeli pullout from Palestinian territories

Source: The Guardian

US asks world court not to call for Israeli pullout from Palestinian territories

US calls for international court of justice to consider Israel’s security needs in hearings on legal status of occupied territories

Julian Borger in Washington
Wed 21 Feb 2024 19.14 GMT
Last modified on Wed 21 Feb 2024 20.51 GMT

The US has urged the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague not to issue a ruling calling for Israel’s immediate withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories, arguing that Israeli security had to be taken into account in any solution to the conflict.

“Any movement towards Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza requires consideration for Israel’s very real security needs,” Richard Visek, the state department’s acting legal adviser, told the ICJ judges.

Visek was stating the US position in ICJ hearings this week first requested by the UN general assembly in 2022. They are intended to establish the legal status of the occupied territories, and the implications for the international community’s approach to the conflict.

More than 50 states are due to present their stances in the week-long hearings, which have further emphasised the isolation of Israel’s few supporters, following a UN security council hearing on Tuesday in which the US was the lone vote against a draft ceasefire resolution, with the UK abstaining. The US and UK are expected to be virtually alone again at the ICJ hearings in urging restraint in its ruling on Israel’s occupation.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2024/feb/21/us-israel-icj-ruling-palestine