World Court to hear UN General Assembly request for advisory opinion on Israel’s UNRWA ban

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hold hearings next week on the UN General Assembly’s request for an advisory opinion on legislation passed by the Knesset banning the operations of the highly contentious UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

Starting Monday and lasting for five days, 38 countries will plead before the court in The Hague, as well as Palestinian diplomatic representatives, officials from the UN itself, the League of Arab Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the African Union.

The Knesset passed legislation last year prohibiting the UNRWA from functioning in sovereign Israeli territory, which under Israeli law includes East Jerusalem, and prohibited state agencies from having any contact with the UNRWA, making it, in theory, far harder for the organization to operate in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel has described the proceedings against its legislation as a “distorted process” whose outcome was “predetermined,” and will not be presenting its arguments in oral pleadings before the court.

It did, however, file a written submission to the ICJ in which it detailed what it said were the connections of UNRWA employees to Hamas and terror activity, including testimony from a freed Israeli hostage that she was held by the terror organization in a UNRWA facility in the Gaza Strip.

The UNGA request for the advisory opinion, which is not binding, asked the ICJ to give its opinion on Israel’s obligations “as an occupying Power and as a member of the United Nations” regarding UN operations, “including its agencies and bodies.”

On Wednesday, Israel’s High Court of Justice rejected a petition by the Adalah and Gisha civil rights organizations to halt the enforcement of closure orders issued by the Education Ministry on April 6 against six UNRWA-operated schools in East Jerusalem, which have a total of 800 enrolled Palestinian students. The orders are set to take effect on May 7 and 8.

Implementation of the new law by Israeli authorities has, however, been patchy, with the UNRWA still able to provide some services in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.