Dn the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is marked by violence and the weight of historical, religious and geopolitical considerations, the voice of law still remains largely inaudible. In a world that is dangerously returning to the pure logic of power, legal rationality is nevertheless more legitimate and necessary than ever.
South Africa’s application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) [à La Haye, qui rendra sa décision le vendredi 26 janvier], which accuses Israel of violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, represents, contrary to what the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné, asserts, a salutary reminder: this conflict, in general, and the security of Israel, in particular, cannot escape the requirements of international law. The exercise of the right to self-defense does not authorize the commission of international crimes and Israel does not de jure enjoy any exceptional regime.
More broadly, the South African complaint opens an exceptional chapter in the legal file of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This “legal exceptionality” is linked to the extreme seriousness of the accusation: in its 84-page application and during its pleadings before the Court, South Africa rigorously demonstrates why, according to it, Israel is committing a “genocide” – a particularly loaded notion which has a well-established legal meaning.
Pretoria notably recalled that more than 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza – the majority of whom were women and children – were killed, more than 60,000 injured, and that the entire Gazan population, deprived of water, food , medicine and housing, is subjected to living conditions likely to lead to its disappearance – acts potentially constituting genocide.
Plausibility of risk
South African lawyers have further highlighted, through numerous speeches by senior Israeli political and military officials dehumanizing the Gazan population as a whole, what they consider to be a clear genocidal intention. These acts and speeches must also, recall the South African lawyers, be interpreted within a broader continuum of abuses and violations of the rights of Palestinians for more than seventy-five years – a period during which Israel has pursued a policy apartheid, occupied and colonized the Palestinian territory and exercised a total blockade of the Gaza Strip in violation of international law.
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