jordan pulse -
Israel arrests women, children and men and tortures them physically and mentally and humiliates and assaults them
Settler terrorism is an evil that worsens its victims are the innocent Palestinians
The Israeli aggression on Gaza rages and kills thousands of lives and destroys the lives of more than 2.3 million Palestinians
Amman – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Ayman Safadi, said on Thursday that Israel imposes demographic change in the occupied Palestinian territory; destroys the historical and civilizational heritage; confiscates the Palestinian land; and expels the Palestinians from their homes, fields, villages and cities.
He added during the presentation of the Kingdom’s oral argument before the International Court of Justice that peace is a right for all the peoples of the region. But there is no peace unless the occupation is removed. No peace without fulfilling the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, by embodying the independent and sovereign Palestinian state, with its capital East Jerusalem on the lines of June 4, 1967, to live in security and peace alongside Israel, and through the world’s recognition of this state.
Safadi stressed that Israel violates the right of Muslims and Christians to worship.
He added: “For the sake of peace, and for the sake of justice, Jordan will not budge in its efforts to protect the Islamic and Christian holy sites in occupied Jerusalem, and preserve their identity. These are our responsibilities towards the holy sites under the historical Hashemite custodianship over them, and our special role towards them.”
The foreign minister said that the brutality that tortured Hind and killed her is a permanent reality under the occupation. This brutality must end. Judge that this brutality must end. Judge that the occupation, the source of all evil, must end.
The following is the speech of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Ayman Safadi, during the presentation of the Kingdom’s oral argument before the International Court of Justice.
Mr. President, members of the court
I stand before you today as the horrors of the Israeli occupation are bloody and inhuman. The Israeli aggression on Gaza, which your esteemed ’ourt saw as requiring an investigation into its commission of genocide, is raging. This aggression kills thousands of lives, destroys the lives of more than two million and three hundred thousand Palestinians who suffer the oppression of the occupation before it begins.
More than twenty-nine thousand innocent Palestinians were killed; mothers writhing in pain without power or strength as they hear the moans of their children fading under the rubble of their homes destroyed by the aggression. More than one million and seven hundred thousand Palestinians were displaced to face the humiliation of living in overcrowded shelters.
Half a million Palestinians are in the fifth degree of the Integrated Food Security Classification, i.e. in the worst stages of famine.
Their number is greater than all the people who face this famine in the whole world.
In Gaza, Palestinians die from the Israeli aggression, and die of hunger for lack of food and medicine, which Israel continues to prevent from Gaza, in violation of international humanitarian law, and in defiance of the precautionary measures ordered by your court.
This aggression must end, and end immediately. Its perpetrators must face justice. No state can be above the law. But Israel does not care, and is allowed not to care about international law. This situation cannot continue.
The occupation Is illegal. The occupation is inhuman.
The occupation must end. Israel has not stopped working systematically to consolidate the occupation. It denies without disregard the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. And its unilateral and illegitimate steps impose new facts on the ground and kill the chances of achieving peace.
Settlement, illegal under international law, increases in number and expands further into the occupied Palestinian territory. The number of settlers rose from 280,000 in 1993, when the Oslo Accords were signed, to 700,000 today, an increase of more than 150%. And settler terrorism is an evil that worsens its victims are the innocent Palestinians and their homes and fortunes.
As the occupying power, Israel is obliged to protect civilians and preserve the historical and civilizational heritage in Palestine, and obliged not to impose demographic changes.
But Israel violates these obligations. Israel imposes demographic change in the occupied Palestinian territory; destroys the historical and civilizational heritage; confiscates the Palestinian land and expels the Palestinians from their homes, fields, villages and cities.
Israel arrests children, men and women illegally. It tortures them physically and mentally, humiliates them, and assaults them.
Israel violates the right of Muslims and Christians to worship. The Israeli government besieges the right of Muslims to pray in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and does nothing to protect Christian clergy from insults and attacks by extremists.
Over decades of occupation, Israel has worked to change the Arab, Islamic and Christian identity of the holy places in occupied Jerusalem.
Mr. President, members of the court
Peace is a right for all the peoples of the region. But there is no peace unless the occupation is removed. No peace without fulfilling the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, by embodying the independent and sovereign Palestinian state, with its capital East Jerusalem on the lines of June 4, 1967, to live in security and peace alongside Israel, and through the world’s recognition of this state.
Mr. President, members of the court
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has never ceased to work for peace. We have suffered the consequences of the conflict. We know the value of peace for us and for the region and for the world. And we also know the condition for achieving peace: ending the occupation, and fulfilling the right of the Palestinian people to justice, freedom and statehood.
The two-state solution must be implemented. And the Palestinian state must be recognized and accepted as a full member of the United Nations. And for the sake of peace, and for the sake of justice, Jordan will not budge in its efforts to protect the Islamic and Christian holy sites in occupied Jerusalem, and preserve their identity. These are our responsibilities towards the holy sites under the historical Hashemite custodianship over them, and our special role towards them.
Mr. President, members of the court
Hundreds of Palestinians are killed in Gaza and the West Bank every day; because Israel is not held accountable for its war crimes and violations of international law.
Children undergo surgery without anesthesia.
Hind, six years old, spent days trapped in a car with the decomposing bodies of her relatives. The paramedics finally reached her. The occupation army killed them, and killed Hind.
Mr. President, members of the court
The brutality that tortured Hind and killed her is a permanent reality under the occupation. This brutality must end. Judge that this brutality must end. Judge that the occupation, the source of all evil, must end.
The argument comes in relation to the advisory opinion requested by the UN General Assembly from the court under resolution 77/247, which was issued on December 30, 2022, on “Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem”.
The public hearings will continue for six days between February 19 and 26, to hear briefings from 52 countries, in addition to the African Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the League of Arab States.
The hearings come in the context of the UN General Assembly’s request for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the effects of the Israeli occupation that has continued for more than 57 years.
The Fourth Committee of the UN General Assembly, which is the committee concerned with political matters and decolonization, adopted on November 11, 2022, a draft resolution submitted by the State of Palestine to request a legal opinion and an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, on the nature and existence of the Israeli colonial occupation in the land of the State of Palestine, including Jerusalem.