Islamabad, 22 July 2024 (TDI): The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has vociferously declared Israel’s settlement activities in the Palestinian territories violative of international law, while announcing its opinion on the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestine this Friday, 19th July 2024.
Confirming its jurisdiction to issue an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, ICJ went on to reiterate that Israel’s settlement policy does not comply with its obligations under international law.
Further Israel’s settlement activities violated international law, continuing to expand, making Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories de facto annexation, which repressed Palestinians’ rights to self-determination.
The ICJ in The Hague held hearings from February 19-26 on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem. During the meetings, more than 50 states and three international organisations, the League of Arab States, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the African Union debated the issue.
Though the court’s advisory opinion is not legally binding, it carries significant political weight. It marks the first time the ICJ has delivered a position on the legality of the 57-year occupation.
Delivering the court’s findings, ICJ President Nawaf Salam said it had found that “Israel’s… continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is illegal. The State of Israel is under the obligation to bring an end to its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible,” he said. He further emphasized that Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005 did not bring Israel’s occupation of that area to an end, because it still exercises effective control over it.
ICJ also opined Israel should evacuate all of its settlers from the West Bank and East Jerusalem and pay reparations to Palestinians for damages caused by the occupation.
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967 which the court declared as illegal. Israel claims sovereignty over the whole of Jerusalem, the eastern half of which it captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Among its determinative conclusions, the court said Israeli restrictions on Palestinians in the occupied territories constituted “systemic discrimination based on, inter alia, race, religion or ethnic origin”. It also said Israel had illegally exploited the Palestinians’ natural resources and violated their right to self-determination. ICJ advised states to avoid providing aid or assistance, that would maintain the current situation.
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The ICJ’s findings will now go to the UN General Assembly, which will decide to adopt a resolution. That would be significant and could constitute a catalyst for negotiations and set the legal parameters for a future negotiated settlement.
