JOHANNESBURG – The executive director at Ceasefire Centre for Civil Rights believes it will be years before a judgement is handed down on whether Israel has committed acts of genocide in Palestine.
Mark Lattimer spoke on the back of South Africa’s oral arguments before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday.
South Africa has labeled Israel’s retaliation for Hamas’ October attacks as being tantamount to genocide.
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Lattimer explains: “We’re actually not going to see, for years, a decision on the merits on the case and a final judgment as to whether Israel is or is not responsible for genocide.”
He said that as a result of this week’s hearing, the world’s highest court would merely look at provisional measures.
“Provisional measures are basically like an injunction or and interim order and they’re basically about trying to say ‘we’ve got to arrest this dispute between the parties, make sure the rights of both parties are preserved and therefore we’re going to stop anything from getting worse.'”