Egypt’s Intervention to Support South Africa’s Lawsuit Against Israel: Significance and Implications

Diplomats and legal experts believe that Cairo is seeking, with this step, to pressure Tel Aviv to back down from the attack. RafahBut, at the same time, it shows a decline in mediation efforts, “steps back,” especially since Egypt was eager to prevent it, since it was a mediator between Israel and Hamas over the past seven months.

Egypt considers the Israeli army’s attack on the Palestinian city of Rafah to be a “direct threat to its national security,” which would require new measures to counter it and warn of the consequences of the current escalation .

What happened in Cairo?

• Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Egypt plans to formally intervene in support of the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel before the International Court of Justice , to investigate Israel’s violations of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention of Crime. Genocide And punished in the Gaza Strip.
• She explained that this step “comes as a result of the severity and seriousness of the Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, and the continuation of systematic practices against the people Palestine, including direct targeting of civilians and destruction of infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. The Gaza Strip, and pushing Palestinians to be displaced and displaced outside their land, which led to the creation of … law, and the Fourth Geneva Convention in 1949 relating to the Protection of Persons Civilian in Wartime.”
• Egypt called on Israel to abide by its obligations as an “occupying power”, and to implement the temporary measures issued by the International Court of Justice, which must ensure access to humanitarian aid and relief. the way that meets the needs of the Palestinians. in the Gaza Strip, and that the Israeli forces do not commit any violations against the Palestinian people, because they are people who have Protection according to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
• Egypt renewed its call to the UN Security Council and influential international parties for the need for immediate action to stop the fire​​​​​​in the Gaza Strip and military operations in the Palestinian city of the Rafah, and to provide the necessary protection to Palestinian civilians.

Meaning of time

The Secretary-General of the Egyptian Council of Foreign Affairs and former Deputy Foreign Minister, Ali Al-Hafni, said in his interview with Sky News Arabia that “Egypt is monitoring its self-restraint despite sharing with the people of the world in rejecting and criticizing. what has been happening in the Gaza Strip since last October, but he… “He was careful that such situations could affect his mediation efforts and Cairo’s efforts to end to speed up the war in Gaza.”

Regarding the reason behind Egypt’s declaration of intervention in support of a lawsuit South AfricaAl-Hafni said: “This comes after the Israeli side’s increasing attacks on Rafah and their disregard for the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, as well as closing all the highways and implementing his plan to oppress the entire population. of the Gaza Strip.”

He said: “Israel is also suspending the talks and mediation efforts and refusing to continue them, and resorts as another way to develop their war in Gaza, so , this leaves us free to continue with the restriction we wanted to continue before, especially with Egypt’s warning about the escalation and its threat to national security and the security of the country. “

The diplomat believes that Egypt’s move will increase international pressure on… IsraelBecause “what was achieved through negotiations can be achieved by increasing pressure on Israel at the next level,” as he said.

Duty to “mediate”

However, Al-Hafni explained that mediation efforts “took steps back,” especially after the failure of the meetings organized by Cairo that ended on Friday without reaching any agreement to end the war, as as a result of the ongoing changes demanded by Israel.

On Friday, a meeting in Cairo regarding a proposal for a truce in the Gaza Strip ended without progress, despite Hamas’ approval of the presented Egyptian document, which Israel considered “does not fulfill its requests. “

At the same time the failure of the talks when the Israeli army announced its control of the Rafah border with Egypt, which led to the suspension of humanitarian aid reaching the besieged Palestinian Territory, in a development that Cairo described as ” a dangerous rise.”

Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Egypt warned that Israel’s activities in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, “threaten the fate of the hard efforts made to achieve lasting peace.” reach inside Gaza. “

The Egyptian diplomat returned to say, “Egyptian affairs will be equal to the escalation that Israel has caused in the past few days. mediation, as this role of ours is extremely important for a ceasefire, especially given Cairo’s experiences in dealing with these situations.

This is what was pointed out by the Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who said:Egypt It continues its efforts to mediate to reach a cease-fire agreement in Gaza.

Direct interest

From a legal perspective, professor of international law and member of the American Society of International Law, Mohamed Mahran, told Sky News Arabia that Egypt’s declaration is based on Article 63 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, which allows any state party to an agreement that is the subject of a dispute before the court the right to intervene in the case, if it believes that it has an interest of a legal nature that may affect to make the decision in the case.

Mahran said that Egypt, as a party to the Genocide Convention, has a direct interest in protecting the obligations of state parties to prevent and stop acts that amount to the crimes of genocide, especially those that are prohibited according to Article 2 of the Convention, such as killing individuals or causing physical harm.

He believed that “Egypt’s intervention will add weight and momentum to the lawsuit filed by South Africa, as Egypt is the mediator and the first witness on all the disruptions that occur because this is the only port of entry into Gaza, and it is the only one that works. to follow the entrance… humanitarian aid“.

According to Mahran, Egypt will present its opinion on the interpretation of the relevant provisions of the Genocide Convention and their application to Israel’s actions in Gaza, in a way that strengthens the arguments of the complainant, highlighting the seriousness of the violations to which the Palestine was. people are open, and are pushing the court to make a decisive decision regarding forcing Israel to honor the agreement.

However, he pointed out that the court’s decision, which could be issued in the near future, will have “great moral value” as it will be a high-level international legal condemnation. on Israel, however, the implementation of orders or temporary measures that the court may send towards the latter will still be subject to the will of the Security Council, which is the UN action tool that has blocked who long ago held Israel accountable because of the American “veto.”