I propose to take Questions Nos. 13, 14, 37, 49 and 52 together.
I have been closely monitoring developments in the case taken under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide (‘Genocide Convention’) by South Africa against Israel in the International Court of Justice. The public hearings that took place last week involved only the two parties to the proceedings, South Africa and Israel, and focussed on the question of provisional measures. It is likely to take the Court some weeks to consider whether to impose provisional measures. Any provisional measures orders that the Court may make will be binding on the parties to which the orders are addressed.
The Court’s decision on provisional measures will be carefully analysed by the Department of Foreign Affairs once it has been published and we will continue to consult closely with our international partners. The Government will at that stage make a decision on whether to intervene and, if so, on what legal basis. This reflects the need for careful and rigorous legal analysis of the relevant issues. It also reflects the fact that the Statute of the Court provides a narrow legal basis on which third parties may intervene in such cases.
Ireland has participated in two cases before the Court regarding the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory to date. In 2004, Ireland made a written statement in the advisory opinion case ‘Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory’. In 2022, the Court was requested by the UN General Assembly to give an advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem. Ireland voted in favour of this resolution, and submitted a written statement to the Court last July. In this statement, Ireland provided its legal analysis of the occupation and of issues related to Israeli policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territory. The oral proceedings in this case will take place in February. Ireland plans to participate. The Court will then give its opinion some months after the conclusion of the oral hearings.