Ma Xinmin (center), Director General of the Department of Treaty and Law of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attends a hearing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on the legal consequences of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, on February 22, 2024. Photo: Robin van Lonkhuijsen/ANP/AFP.
The government of China has defended the fact that, according to international law, the Palestinian people have the legitimate right to armed struggle and the use of force in the face of the Israeli settler occupation, during a session at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“In pursuit of their right to self-determination, the use of force by the Palestinian people to resist foreign oppression and complete the establishment of an independent state is an inalienable right well founded in international law,” stated the Director General of the Department of Treaty and Law of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ma Xinmin, at the ICJ this Thursday, February 22.
🚨#BREAKING: China's representative points out at the ICJ that armed resistance against occupation is enshrined in international law and is not terrorism. pic.twitter.com/qplAmGzzeS
— The Saviour (@stairwayto3dom) February 22, 2024
The Asian diplomat pointed out that armed struggle is legitimately recognized within numerous UN resolutions as one of the ways people under colonial domination or foreign occupation have the right to utilise for the sake of upholding their right to self-determination.
“The struggle waged by the people for their liberation, their right to self-determination, including the armed struggle against colonialism, occupation, aggression and domination against foreign forces, should not be considered terrorism,” the Chinese expert stressed.
Ma further detailed the struggle and resistance of the Palestinian people to be “fundamentally fair,” following the “prolonged” Israeli settler occupation of Palestine, which South Africa previously pointed out to be an apartheid regime even greater than the one suffered by the South African people, during their prosecution of the Israeli settler entity for genocide at the ICJ.
The Chinese diplomat further emphasized that the use of force to occupy and maintain such occupation for annexation of a territory—as the Israeli settler entity does—is illegal under the terms of international law.
During the ICJ session, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Luxembourg, Malaysia, and Mauritius, as well as China, all presented their arguments to issue an advisory opinion on the consequences of Israeli settler practices in the occupied Palestinian territories since 1967.
(Telesur) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU
