The United States told the UN’s top court on Wednesday that Israel should not be legally forced to withdraw from occupied Palestinian territory without security guarantees.The International Court of Justice is holding a week of hearings after a request from the United Nations, with an unprecedented 52 countries giving their views on Israel’s illegal occupation.Most speakers have demanded that Israel end its occupation, which came after a six-day Arab-Israeli war in 1967, but Washington came to its ally’s defence at the court”The court should not find that Israel is legally obligated to immediately and unconditionally withdraw from occupied territory,” said Richard Visek, legal advisor at the US State Department.”Any movement towards Israel withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza requires consideration of Israel’s very real security needs,” he argued.”We were all reminded of those security needs on October 7,” he said, referring to the Hamas attacks that sparked the current conflictThe UN has asked the ICJ to hand down an “advisory opinion” on the “legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”The court will probably deliver its opinion before the end of the year, but it is not binding on anyone make una the try read everthing so that una go understand watin the really sup na abeg
