Rossa Fanning, Ireland's Attorney General, delivered a statement on behalf of Ireland in the ICJ Advisory Opinion Public Hearings on Israeli Practices and Policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territory today, February 22.
After reiterating that Ireland "unequivocally" condemns the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel, Fanning said: "...international law limits the use of force in self-defence to no more than what is necessary and proportionate.
"Ireland’s view is that these limits have been exceeded by Israel in its military response to the Hamas attack.
"This is manifest from the spiralling death toll, the extensive destruction of property, including homes, throughout Gaza, the displacement of two million people and the ensuing, humanitarian catastrophe.
"Ireland has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and we are dismayed by the implications that these latest hostilities in Gaza may have for the prospect of resolving the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
Fanning continued: "Ireland has, with regret, concluded that by its prolonged occupation of Palestinian territory and the settlement activities it has conducted there for more than half a century, Israel has committed serious breaches of a number of peremptory norms of general international law, and the corresponding erga omnes obligations to which they give rise, namely the basic rules of international humanitarian law; the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people; and the prohibition of acquisition of territory by force."
Fanning argued that Israel is obliged "to bring to an end the serious breaches ... including by reversing its settlement activity, and making reparation for the damage arising by way of restitution and compensation, as appropriate."
The ongoing six-day hearing is the result of a resolution from the UN General Assembly in December 2022 which called on the ICJ to give an advisory opinion on the consequences of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory since 1967.
As a result, the hearing predates the October 7 attacks committed by Hamas last year and the subsequent conflict that has taken place in Gaza ever since. It is also unrelated to a case brought before the ICJ by South Africa which alleges that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
However, the hearing is likely to increase political pressure on Israel.
Ireland is one of over 50 countries to make submissions at the ongoing hearing, which began on Monday and will last six days before concluding on Monday, February 26.
The ICJ's 15-judge panel is expected to take several months to reach its conclusions and will issue a non-binding advisory opinion.
Fanning told the court on Thursday that Ireland is of the opinion that all states should be required to review their trading practices with settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, adding that states should take steps to prevent trade that maintains settlement activity or legitimizes Israel's annexation of Palestine.
He also told the court that Israel's military occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 1967 has involved deliberate settlement building.
"Neither the duration of the occupation nor the scale and extent of settlement activity is, in Ireland's view, justified or permitted by the law regulating the use of force in self-defense," Fanning told the ICJ on Thursday.
"Indeed, if the security of one people can only be achieved by the occupation over so many decades of the territory of another people, one has to wonder whether there can be any military solution to the problem that it purports to address. In our view, the only effective solution to the problem can be a political one."
He added that Israel has prevented Palestinian people from exercising their right to self-determination and said Israel's continued occupation "threatens the viability of a future Palestinian State."
"The nature, scale, and duration of settlement activity is such that its purpose can only be to permanently obstruct the exercise of the Palestinian people's rights to self-determination," Fanning said.
Rossa Fanning, S.C, Attorney General, delivered Ireland’s statement at the Peace Palace in The Hague today. The Embassy team and colleagues from HQ were pleased to be present. @IrlAmbNL https://t.co/ujUbyMFcQE pic.twitter.com/lHaeI6zkp6
— Embassy of Ireland in The Netherlands (@IrelandinNL) February 22, 2024
He added that Israel is in the process of annexing Palestinian territory in the West Bank.
"In Ireland's view, Israel is already engaged in the process of annexing Palestinian territory. It is doing so de facto through its policy of encouraging demographic change in that territory by population transfer, and by the continuous development and maintenance of permanent settlements and infrastructure.
"Ireland is concerned that it may also be doing so de jure by increasingly extending the application of domestic Israeli law and civilian administration to the settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories," he added.
He added that Israeli settlers are unlawfully destroying Palestinian property in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and that Israel has a policy of encouraging and facilitating such behavior.
Fanning told the court that Israel was in clear breach of international law and the Geneva Convention.
Powerful statement by Attorney General on behalf of 🇮🇪 at International Court of Justice hearings on legal consequences of Israeli practices & policies in Palestine. We have concluded 🇮🇱 has committed serious breaches of international law. Full statement: https://t.co/RKEqIsbEYt
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) February 22, 2024
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