Declaration

Date: 27 March 2024. 
 
State of Palestine 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates  
 
Declaration
 
The State of Palestine hereby declares its intention to intervene in the case of South Africa v. Israel before the International Court of Justice, addressing the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip. This step is consistent with Palestine’s support to South Africa’s case from its inception. It is also in line with the State of Palestine’s duties towards its people and Palestine’s obligations as a State Party to the Genocide Convention.
 
The International Court of Justice's provisional measures, ordered on January 26, 2024, affirmed the plausibility of genocide in Palestine, recognized the credible risk of irreparable prejudice to the rights of Palestinians in Gaza, as a protected group, under the Genocide Convention, and directed Israel, to prevent genocidal acts, prevent and punish incitement to genocide, and ensure urgent and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid. Yet, Israel's relentless aggression persists, undermining the Court's directive, violating Palestinian rights under the Genocide Convention, and persisting in its drive to destroy the Palestinian people. Equally, many states have failed to honor their erga omnes obligations to adhere to and implement the ICJ's order, thereby entrenching complicity in these grave acts, including the political and military aiding and abetting the perpetrators of genocide. 
 
For six months, the Israeli military campaign has systematically decimated the Palestinian population, terminating over 32,000 lives lost, including the innocent lives of more than 14,000 children. The onslaught has left 75,000 wounded and destroyed 70% of residential structures, displacing in the process the vast majority (80%) of Gaza's civilians and subjecting them to relentless and unbearable devastation and engineered starvation, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza are forced to experience catastrophic famine. In addition to such profound physical wounds, this brutal campaign led to a pervasive psychological toll and a dire humanitarian crisis.   
 
This unfolding genocide, broadcast live to the world, is part of the ongoing Nakba that was unleashed over seventy-five years ago, entailing systemic and sustained dehumanizing, oppressive, and genocidal acts against the Palestinian people that reached horrific and new levels in the past six months. The State of Palestine intends to intervene in the ICJ proceedings to impress upon the Court to put an end to decades of criminality, brutality, and attempts to systemically destroy the Palestinian people by way of genocide, ethnic cleansing, colonization, racial discrimination, and forced displacement and in the context of absolute impunity and disregard to international law and human dignity.  This genocide, this relentless Nakba, must end.  
 
The State of Palestine reaffirms its sincere appreciation to the Republic of South Africa for its principled and historic legal action against Israel due to the occupying power’s grave and systematic violations of the Genocide Convention across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. This is a vital step in the global effort to hold Israel accountable for perpetrating genocide, as evidenced by the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza where a brutal and systemic aggression against Palestinian civilians continues unabated.  
 
Palestine calls upon responsible State Parties to the Genocide Convention to join in this judicial process and stand up to the sanctity of human dignity and life. In this connection, Palestine welcomes the decision by Belgium and Ireland to also intervene as third parties in the proceedings. This is a legal and moral imperative to protect the international system from the toxic and destructive outcome of impunity and double standards as well as to confront the ongoing catastrophic assault on humanity and human dignity in Palestine, to end the protracted Nakba, and to restore life, peace, and justice to the Palestinian people. 
 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 
State of Palestine