now the un's top court is opening a week
of hearings on the legal consequences of
Israel's occupation of Palestinian
territories more than 50 countries are
expected to give evidence at the
international court of justice in the ha
the hearings requested by the UN General
Assembly are separate from the ongoing
genocide case brought by South Africa
there are currently for 144 settlements
in the occupied West Bank including East
Jerusalem all illegal under
international law in addition there are
more than a 100 Jewish outposts not
sanctioned by the Israeli
government a new Jewish neighborhood is
taking shape in East Jerusalem this
building site is illegal under
international law the apartment being
built here will become one of the many
Israeli settlements in the Palestinian
territories East Jerusalem was annexed
by Israel in 1967
but the International Community
considers it a part of the West Bank
Palestinians say the settlers are
encroaching on the land they one day
envisage as the capital of a Palestinian
State the West Bank is partly controlled
by the Palestinian Authority but Israel
maintains full control of 2third of the
territory the two groups are separated
by walls and checkpoints limiting
movement for
Palestinians Palestinian Farmers have
complained that this Patchwork of zones
create unfair access to resources like
water and Jewish settlers are accused of
attacking crops property and
people at the end of 2022 the United
Nations General Assembly passed a
resolution asking the international
court of justice to weigh in on the
situation the world court is being asked
to give an advisory opinion on the
occupation and what consequences it has
on the Palestinian people's right to
self-determination it's being asked to
look at the occupation annexation and
settlement of Palestinian territory
including measures aimed at altering
demographics and discriminatory
legislation the court will hear from
representatives of over 50
countries let's pick this up with d
correspondent Lucia Shulton who's at the
hag at the moment morning Lucia what's
expected to happen
today yeah so the court has already
started its session um it started or it
will start with a little uh introdu
introduction by by the court and then
after this the Palestinian
Representatives will be given three
hours among them is also top Diplomat
Riad al-maliki who will start the
Palestinian presentation today uh and as
I said then they're given 3 hours this
is more time than all of the other
states that will be heard from tomorrow
on are given the rest of the states will
have uh 30 minutes what is important to
know that this is a very different case
than the other big case that is
happening here in the he which is the
genocide convention case where South
Africa brought Israel to the
international court of justice um over
an alleged breach of that said
convention the genocide convention okay
now the international Community already
regards Israel's settlement building in
the occupied territories as illegal so
why does this need to be in
court so this case has been brought here
by the United Nation General Assembly
they have asked for a so-call advisory
opinion back in 2022 so before the
Israel Hamas war and um it is important
to note that the world Court here behind
me um does give this advisory opinions
when they're asked to do so as I've said
have been asked in 2022 this advisory
opinion is not legally binding binding
it is exactly what the name is it is
advisory so um the the general assembly
wanted to know um on a relatively broad
range of topics um we wanted to get an
assessment of the situation um in the
occupied Palestinian territories edit
has said and it wants to get the details
or the legal consequences um on the
settlement occupation and annexation of
the Palestinian um territory as the
question has stated and it wants to know
which legal consequences come from this
for the United Nations itself but also
for other states okay so This concerns
Israel's actions on the West Bank but
would this advisory uh opinion have any
legal bearing on Israel's current
actions in
Gaza well it is uh it is relatively
broad The Advisory opinion so it's also
especially on the question question of
EAS Jerusalem um it is not expected to
have a direct effect on the situation
that is happening right now in Gaza
because as I said it is not legally
binding nevertheless this is the world
Court it has a weight and it says so
itself so that means that whatever comes
out with this advisory opinion it could
be that other states or the United
Nations act upon this and draw their
conclusions out of this but it it also
as it comes as a time it is also
considered to give political pressure um
the opinion is expected to come
relatively quickly in the past it took
around 6 months for an advisory opinion
to be issued so it is likely to assume
that this will also be the case here
okay thank you uh DW correspondent
Luccia Schon at the
ha