On 29 December 2023, South Africa instigated proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleging that Israel's conduct in the Gaza Strip violated their obligations under the Genocide Convention. South Africa requested the Court to issue preliminary measures and framed its case for the commission of acts of genocide within the broader context of Israel’s conduct towards Palestinians during its 75-year-long apartheid, its 56-year-long belligerent occupation of Palestinian territory and its 16-year-long blockade of Gaza. Israel’s foreign ministry responded by calling the proceedings baseless a blood libel and accused South Africa of functioning as the legal arm of Hamas.
On 26 January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued provisional measures in Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel). The ICJ ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of the Genocide Convention, and to take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The case continues to evolve - Germany offered to intervene on Israel’s behalf, and was subsequently condemned by Namibia. On the 16th of February, 2024, the ICJ issued a further decision noting the ‘perilous’ situation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, but declining South Africa’s request for additional urgent measures to safeguard Palestinians being threatened by an Israeli ground assault there.
This roundtable aims to provide a safe space for an open and critical discussion of the overall political, historical, social, and geopolitical context leading to these events, as well as their global effects on Palestinians living in the diaspora, EU policy towards Israel, Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority, and the roles of History and International Law, as a frames of reference, alongside the international communities' reactions and involvement in these events.