On 30 March 2026, the Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC) sent an open letter to commend the work being done by the Hague Group and reaffirming the calls to action that have emerged from the meeting of 4 March 2026. Against the backdrop of Israel’s accelerated settler-colonial annexationist plans and ongoing genocide, the willingness of the Hague Group’s participating States to commit to protecting the viability of the framework of an international rule of law and to pursue an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territory, is not only essential, it is urgently required.

We underscore the important findings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its Palestine Advisory Opinion of July 2024, which found Israel’s racial segregation and apartheid in breach of the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and Israel’s continued presence in Palestine in breach of peremptory norms of international law, including the non-acquisition of territory through use of force, and the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. It therefore remains imperative that States do not fail, individually and collectively, to strive to uphold the fundamental tenets of the Geneva Conventions, to abide by the conclusions and recommendations of the ICJ in its Palestine Advisory Opinion, and to implement and enforce immediate and robust sanctions against Israel as detailed by the UN General Assembly Resolution ES-10/24 (19 September 2024).

PHROC notes also the recommendations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to the Netherlands, to ban the exports of arms to Israel; cease all trade and investment relations that can contribute to the current gross and systematic human rights violations of the Palestinian people; and avoid recognising, aiding, or assisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, including by all business enterprises domiciled in its territory or under its jurisdiction. Accordingly, PHROC recommends that all States Parties move to mainstreaming their periodic reports to the UN treaty bodies so as to include detail on the steps they are taking to ensure that their conduct vis-à-vis Israel, is in compliance with their treaty obligations.

In light of the above and in addition to the important and crucial calls to action advanced by the Hague Group on 4 March, PHROC further calls on the Hague Group to take the following domestic and international accountability measures:

End Israel’s Illegal Settlement Enterprise

• Ensure that States are reminded that the scope of their obligation not to contribute to the maintenance of the unlawful occupation requires action, including legislative action, to end all trade with Israel and its illegal settlements, which has the effect of making any contribution to the maintenance of the unlawful occupation. This requires a holistic, comprehensive approach and does not allow artificial boundaries to be drawn, such as ending trade in only goods while facilitating ongoing trade in services;

• States must further act to sanction individual settlers and settler organisations, taking action, including legislative action to penalise settler organizations, businesses, and sporting associations which contribute to the maintenance of Israel’s unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), commencing with State or public officials, unlawfully present in the OPT;

• Revoke the status of settler charities and related illegal entities;

• Revoke the accrual of benefits and State entitlements, including contributions to the pensions of dual nationality settlers for any time spent unlawfully resident in settlements on appropriated Palestinian lands;

• Implement a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, which prohibits the transfer, transit, or carriage of any and all arms, munitions, military fuel, or dual-use items to Israel.

Counter US Sanctions to ensure International Accountability

• Publicly and unequivocally denounce the US sanctions against the International Criminal Court officials, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and Palestinian civil society organisations under US Executive Order 14203;

• Adopt national and regional blocking legislation to prevent the extraterritorial reach of the United States sanctions in their jurisdiction under US Executive Order 14203, to prevent the Executive Order from circumventing international accountability work on Israeli perpetrators at the International Criminal Court. In this vein, PHROC further calls on States in the EU, to urgently implement the EU Blocking Statute (Council Regulation (EC) No 2271/96);

• Engage proactively with banks, financial institutions, IT companies and other service providers to prevent over-compliance with the sanctions regime under US Executive Order 14203 outside of the US, and ensure that designated individuals and institutions are not excluded from accessing essential services for their mandates and private use;

• Provide funding to Palestinian civil society organisations who have lost funding due to the sanctions, to ensure that evidence collection continues for accountability purposes;

• Increase contributions to the budget of the International Criminal Court, to ensure that the Situation in the State of Palestine is adequately resourced.

International Accountability Measures:

• Support a resolution for the establishment of an International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for accountability in Palestine, which is critical for the continued viability of universal and extraterritorial jurisdiction cases, and the preservation of evidence;

• Seek a UN General Assembly Resolution condemning and demanding the revocation of the US sanctions regime under US Executive Order 14203, and calling for an ICJ Advisory Opinion on “US obligations in relation to the immunities of UN mandate holders, their access to the UN headquarters and in relation to the sanctions against the ICC and those cooperating with it as a whole”;

• Support a UN General Assembly Resolution for the reconstitution of the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid, and the UN Centre Against Apartheid to address the root causes and work to dismantle the apartheid on both sides of the Green Line;

• Submit interventions supporting the legal analysis advanced by South Africa and Nicaragua, in their ongoing legal proceedings against Israel and against Germany, at the International Court of Justice.

It is PHROC’s view, that UN Security Council Resolution 2803, mandating an international administration in Gaza under the auspices of the Trump Plan, manifestly breaches the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and the Charter of the United Nations. Further, given Israel’s ongoing responsibility for the continued violation of a wide range of jus cogens norms of international law, United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803, in the manner by which it purports to endorse the Board of Peace’s complicity in these violations, and purports to authorise the use of force against Palestine and Palestinians –– and recalling that Israel, the unlawful Occupying Power, is itself a member of the Board of Peace –– must be regarded as void and legally ineffective. We call on all States to refrain from recognising the Board of Peace as a legitimate international organisation. We further call on all States to ensure that should any States choose to participate in the so-called International Stabilization Force, they are recognised as being complicit in, and co-responsible for, the maintenance of Israel’s unlawful occupation and settler colonial apartheid regime.

Further, and in light of the ICJ’s UNRWA Advisory Opinion of 2025, we urge the Hague Group to work to rescind the UN General Assembly membership rights of apartheid Israel, for its flagrant breaches of Resolution 181 with respect to the status of Palestine and Jerusalem, and Resolution 194 on the return and repatriation of Palestinian refugees, two resolutions which Israel has consistently refused to fulfil since 1948.

Recalling the importance of providing a platform for Palestinian voices and the direct victims of Israel’s crimes, we remain able and willing to provide support to the Hague Group’s ongoing work. PHROC reiterates its support and respect for the initiatives of the Hague Group and urges continued engagement and actions to end the genocide, and its root causes which requires the dismantling of Israel’s settler colonial apartheid regime.