Israel actively preventing realization of Palestinians’ right to self-determination, Slovenia tells UN court

LONDON (AA) – Israel, as the occupying power for many decades, is actively preventing the full realization of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination, Slovenia’s delegation to the International Court of Justice said Friday.

Presenting Slovenia’s statements in advisory proceedings on the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, Daniel Muller, said the policies are not in compliance with the guarantees and principles of international law.

“The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination is fundamentally hobbled by the prolonged occupation of Palestinian territory by the occupying power,” Muller said during public hearings at The Hague.

He said the practices and policies implemented by Israel in occupied Palestinian territory do not comply with the “elementary obligations of international human rights law, or international humanitarian law.”

“Israel has the obligation to put an end to its internationally wrongful acts, and to all the practices preventing the Palestinian people from fully exercising its right to self-determination,” he noted.

Muller stressed that Israel “must fully carry out” its international obligations, in particular its obligation to respect and promote the self-determination of the Palestinian people in full compliance with international law, and the harm caused by these internationally wrongful acts must be fully repaired.