Dispatch #149 White Lesbian Age 72 Considers International Court of Justice Ruling Israel’s Occupation of PT Violates International Law and Orders Israel to End Its Occupation and Pay Reparation
- Kathleen A. Maloy
- Sep 3, 2024
- 7 min read
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Notable highlights from the following articles:
The UN’s international court of justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories “as rapidly as possible” and make full reparations for its “internationally wrongful acts” in a sweeping and damning advisory opinion that says the occupation violates international law.
“The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the occupied Palestinian territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful
Thorough, detailed and all encompassing, the international court of justice’s advisory ruling on the illegality of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and settlement building represents a stark refutation of Israel’s claims, and will have a profound impact for years to come.
The ICJ declared Israel’s long-term occupation of Palestinian territory “unlawful” and said it amounted to de facto annexation. The court called for Israel to rapidly quit the occupied territories and ruled Palestinians were due reparations for the harm of 57 years of an occupation that systematically discriminates against them.
Judge Salam said reparations included restitution, compensation and/or satisfaction, defining the former as “Israel’s obligation to return the land and other immovable property, as well as all assets seized from any natural or legal person since its occupation started in 1967, and all cultural property and assets taken from Palestinians and Palestinian institutions, including archives and documents”.
“It also requires the evacuation of all settlers from existing settlements and the dismantling of the parts of the wall constructed by Israel that are situated in the occupied Palestinian territory, as well as allowing all Palestinians displaced during the occupation to return to their original place of residence.”
The ICJ’s verdict is important because it strips away the legal ambiguities and ingenious bureaucratic subterfuges that have enabled the Israeli occupation
The UN’s top court filed a ruling Friday that echoed what Palestinian advocates have been saying for decades: Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, including its settlements in the West Bank, is illegal and must end.
UN court orders Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territories | Haroon Saddique | 19 July 2024 | The Guardian
The UN’s international court of justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories “as rapidly as possible” and make full reparations for its “internationally wrongful acts” in a sweeping and damning advisory opinion that says the occupation violates international law.
Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 six-day war. It has annexed East Jerusalem in a move that is not recognised internationally and considers the West Bank, to which it has moved people in settlements, to be disputed territory.
Reading the court’s opinion on Friday, the president of the ICJ, Nawaf Salam, said: “The court considers that the violations by Israel of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force and of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination have a direct impact on the legality of the continued presence of Israel, as an occupying power, in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the occupied Palestinian territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful.”
As well as ordering an end to the occupation as soon as possible, the court, which consists of 15 judges, said Israel must put an end to all unlawful acts, including ceasing all new settlement activity and repealing legislation that maintains the occupation, including that which discriminates against Palestinians or seeks to modify the demographic composition of any parts of the occupied territory.
Salam said reparations included restitution, compensation and/or satisfaction, defining the former as “Israel’s obligation to return the land and other immovable property, as well as all assets seized from any natural or legal person since its occupation started in 1967, and all cultural property and assets taken from Palestinians and Palestinian institutions, including archives and documents”.
“It also requires the evacuation of all settlers from existing settlements and the dismantling of the parts of the wall constructed by Israel that are situated in the occupied Palestinian territory, as well as allowing all Palestinians displaced during the occupation to return to their original place of residence.” www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/19/israels-settlement-policies-break-international-law-court-finds
Why ICJ ruling against Israel’s settlement policies will be hard to ignore. The judgment challenges allies such as UK and US, which for years soft-pedalled on occupation of Palestinian territories. | Peter Beaumont | 19 July 2024 | The Guardian
Thorough, detailed and all encompassing, the international court of justice’s advisory ruling on the illegality of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and settlement building represents a stark refutation of Israel’s claims, and will have a profound impact for years to come.
The ICJ declared Israel’s long-term occupation of Palestinian territory “unlawful” and said it amounted to de facto annexation. The court called for Israel to rapidly quit the occupied territories and ruled Palestinians were due reparations for the harm of 57 years of an occupation that systematically discriminates against them.
The ruling also stood as a rebuke to Israel’s argument that the ICJ had no standing to consider the issue on the grounds that UN resolutions, as well as bilateral Israeli-Palestinian agreements, had established that the correct framework for resolving the conflict should be political, not legal. Effectively rejecting that argument, the court asserted that international law applies regardless of the decades of failed political efforts to reach a lasting peace agreement, not least as Israel has continued with its settlement-building.
Taking half an hour to read, the ruling gathered together multiple strands of international law from the Geneva conventions to the Hague convention to make a case that has been obvious to Palestinians and to critics of Israeli policy in the international community for years. In summary it said that years of Israel’s own officially and self-described ambitions to build and settle in the occupied territories amounted to an intent to effectively annex territory against international law; www.theguardian.com/law/article/2024/jul/19/why-icj-ruling-against-israel-settlement-policies-hard-to-ignore-occupation-palestinian-territories
ICJ Says Israel’s Occupation of Territories Violates International Law | 19 July 2024 | The New York Times
“The Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the regime associated with them have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law,” the court’s president, Nawaf Salam, said as he issued the 83-page opinion at the Peace Palace in The Hague.
The court also said that Israel’s presence in the territories should come to an end “as rapidly as possible” and that Israel was “under an obligation to provide full reparation for the damage caused by its internationally wrongful acts to all natural or legal persons concerned.”
ICJ opinion on Israel's occupation upends the order that oppresses Palestinians Western leaders can no longer pretend to ignore what is actually happening on the ground in occupied Palestine | Peter Oborne and Lubna Masarwa | 19 July 2024 | Middle East Eye
Fifty-seven years have passed since Israeli forces swept through East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, known in Israel as the Six Days War. Ever since these areas have remained under Israeli military occupation. A brutal occupation to be sure. But it was a legal occupation, according to the letter of international law, which sets out duties and responsibilities that an occupying power must uphold in territory under its control during armed conflict.
The ICJ has found that the entire occupation is unlawful and that Israel's settlement policy is in breach of the Geneva Convention, which states that "the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies". It has found, too, that Israel's policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territories amount to annexation of large parts of these territories, and that Israel systematically discriminates against the Palestinians who live there.
The ICJ’s verdict is important because it strips away the legal ambiguities and ingenious bureaucratic subterfuges that have enabled the Israeli occupation.
ICJ Ruling Confirms What Palestinians Have Been Saying for 57 Years Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, a form of apartheid, and must end, says the U.N.’s high court at The Hague | Jonah Valdez | 19 July 2024 | The Intercept
The UN’s top court filed a ruling Friday that echoed what Palestinian advocates have been saying for decades: Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, including its settlements in the West Bank, is illegal and must end.
The International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion also called for reparations for Palestinians who have lived under Israel’s occupation since it began in 1967, an unprecedented step for the court. The court also notably declared Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians to be a form of segregation and apartheid. It further ruled that nations cannot offer aid in support of the illegal occupation without violating international law, and upheld the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
Advisory opinions from the ICJ are not legally binding and cannot, in itself, force a country to act. But their legal and moral weight can have significant influence on countries’ decisions and foreign policy.
B’Tselem, an Israeli-based human rights group, was among a host of organizations that welcomed Friday’s ruling after decades of their own advocacy calling for an end to Israel’s occupation. They said the international community has been avoiding the issue by buying Israel’s claim that its occupation is temporary and that it is engaged in negotiations and diplomacy toward a solution.
“The release of the ICJ’s advisory opinion puts an end to these justifications, and now the international community must use every tool — criminal, diplomatic and economic — to force Israeli decision-makers to end the occupation,” the group said on Friday.
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