KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 (Bernama) — South Africa is scrutinising the report submitted by Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last month on measures taken to prevent genocide in Gaza before deciding on any next move, said its High Commissioner to Malaysia, David E. Malcomson.
Speaking to Bernama at his office here recently, he said Israel did submit the report on time as ordered by the ICJ in its ruling on Jan 26.
“So far, the report is being held confidentially and it was submitted within the one-month period as ordered by the ICJ.
“The authorities are studying the report to see what the response from South Africa will be,” Malcomson said, adding that South Africa has made another filing to the ICJ calling for the court to make Israel halt its attacks on Gaza to prevent the Palestinians from starvation.
The second filing was made on March 6, just days before Muslims worldwide begin fasting in the Ramadan month.
South Africa wants Israel to stop all military operations against Palestine not just during Ramadan but permanently, Malcomson stressed.
On Feb 26, The Times of Israel reported that Israel has submitted a report to the ICJ detailing the measures it has and is taking to comply with the January’s court order, which calls for it to prevent actions in the Gaza war that could violate the Genocide Convention.
South Africa’s International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor, on March 5, told the National Assembly that the government is still studying Israel’s report to the ICJ on how the regime is complying with directives to minimise harm to the Palestinians.
South Africa has has the right to respond to the report’s contents, she said as quoted by South Africa’s media, Eyewitness News.
In December last year, South Africa initiated a case against Israel in the ICJ concerning the application of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
On Jan 26, the ICJ, in its ruling, ordered six provisional measures, including preventing the commission of genocide in Gaza and ensuring with immediate effect that the Israeli military do not commit any acts of genocide, as well as preventing and punishing the direct and public incitement to genocide.
Other three measures include enabling the provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life in Gaza; preventing the destruction and ensuring the preservation of evidence related to allegations of genocide, and submitting a report to the ICJ on all measures taken to give effect to the Order within one month.
Elaborating on the ICJ’s ruling, Malcomson said although the court did not mention the word ceasefire, the six provisional measures if implemented, will bring about one.
Therefore, South Africa will continue to pressure the Israelis to implement the measures through diplomatic channels, be it through the United Nations Security Council or the United Nations General Assembly or through bilateral discussions, he said.
Asked on the strong bond between South Africa and Palestine, he said the relation started in the 1960s during the liberation period for South Africa.
“When we (South Africans) were fighting apartheid, the South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) had established contact with other liberation organisations, including the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
“There is a link between the ANC and PLO, as well as a personal connection between the late president Nelson Mandela and former PLO chairman Yasser Arafat,” he said.
“Mandela had viewed Palestine as the greatest moral issue and after the apartheid regime was toppled, he said: “We, South Africans, cannot consider ourselves free until the Palestinian people are free.”
According to Malcomson, South Africa’s historical experience in freeing themselves from apartheid had led to the new South Africa, which came into being in 1994 to highlight human rights as one of the key aspects in the country’s foreign policies.
One of the key human rights issues is Palestine.
“South Africa has never regarded Palestine as a religious issue but a human one. For South Africa, it is a question of justice. The historical experience makes us get involved in the Palestinian issue today and the world must not forget what is happening in the West Bank as well,” he added.
Nearly 31,000 Palestinians had been killed and over 72,000 others wounded in Israel’s deadly military offensive on Gaza since Oct 7 last year.
The regime has also imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation amid mass destruction and the shortages of necessities.
The Israel-Gaza war has pushed 85 per cent of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the United Nations.
— BERNAMA
