Israel’s activities in the Palestinian territories are an “even more extreme” form of apartheid than the one implemented in South Africa before 1994, Pretoria said on Tuesday at the UN Supreme Court, AFP and Agerpres reported.

This week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is holding a hearing on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories since 1967. An unprecedented number of 52 countries were invited to testify.

“As South Africans, we feel, see, hear and feel deeply the inhumane discriminatory policies and practices of the Israeli regime as an even more extreme form of institutionalized apartheid against black people in my country,” said Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands.

“It is clear that the illegal occupation of Israel is also carried out by committing the crime of apartheid (…) It cannot be distinguished from colonialism,” Madonsela said. “Israeli apartheid must end,” he added, stressing that South Africa has a “special obligation” to condemn apartheid wherever it occurs and ensure its “immediate end”.

The hearings are separate from a case by South Africa, which accuses Israel of committing acts of genocide in Gaza. The court has yet to rule on the matter, but on January 26 it asked Israel to prevent any possible act of genocide. She did not mention the ceasefire.

The hearing comes amid growing international legal pressure on Israel over the Gaza war, sparked by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7.

How the Hague Court assesses Israel’s actions in the Palestinian territories

On December 31, 2022, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution requesting a non-binding “advisory opinion” of the International Court of Justice on “the legal consequences of Israel’s policies and actions in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.”

Israel is not participating in the hearing, but asked the Court to reject the request for an opinion in a written statement dated July 24, 2023. The hearing began Monday with three hours of testimony from Palestinian officials who accused the Israeli occupiers of carrying out a system of “colonialism and apartheid.”

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki asked the judges to demand an “immediate, complete and unconditional” end to the occupation. The International Court of Justice hears disputes between states, and its decisions are binding, although it has little means of enforcing them.

However, in this case, the conclusion of the ICJ will not be binding. But most advisory opinions actually come with consequences. In June 1967, Israel waged the Six-Day War, occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem at the expense of Jordan, the Golan Heights at the expense of Syria, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula at the expense of Egypt.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that Israel would never relinquish military control over Palestinian territories, be it the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army and settlers were withdrawn from Gaza in 2004 at the suggestion of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.