By The South Asia Times

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan presented its oral statement before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague on Friday in context of the ongoing hearing on the “Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”

Pakistan’s inter-ministerial delegation to the hearing was headed by the Federal Minister for Law & Justice, Mr. Ahmed Irfan Aslam, said Foreign Ministry in statement.

Delivering the oral statement on behalf of Pakistan, the Federal Minister for Law & Justice said that Israeli occupation continued to severely impede the exercise of the right to self-determination by the Palestinians. Through its illegal settlement policy, Israel is trying to create “irreversible facts on the ground;” perpetuate its illegal occupation; and deny access to the Holy places in Jerusalem. Israeli policies and practices amount to systematic racial discrimination and apartheid against the Palestinians. The ICJ would fail to discharge its judicial functions if it did not stop Israel from profiting “from its own continued grave wrongs.”

The oral hearing comes at a time when the Palestinians are facing a brutal onslaught from the Israeli occupation forces. In this backdrop, the Government and the people of Pakistan continue to express their unwavering solidarity with their Palestinian brothers and sisters at all international forums, including at the ICJ.

Pakistan has been calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, provision of sufficient, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian assistance to the besieged people of Gaza, and the need for a just, comprehensive and durable solution through the establishment of a secure, viable, contiguous and sovereign State of Palestine on the basis of the pre-June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.