“Israel has an obligation to deliver an finish to its presence within the occupied Palestinian territory as quickly as doable,” stated Nawaf Salam, the president of the court docket.
The searing advisory opinion issued by judges just isn’t legally binding, however the choice might have broad penalties within the worldwide area, together with in commerce and diplomacy. The court docket stated member states shouldn’t acknowledge as authorized the scenario arising from Israel’s illegal presence in occupied territory, nor ought to they render assist or help in sustaining it.
Israel declined to participate within the hearings and described the proceedings as biased and an “abuse of worldwide regulation and the judicial course of.”
“The Jewish persons are not conquerors in their very own land,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on X after the announcement. “No false choice in The Hague will distort this historic reality and likewise the legality of Israeli settlement in all of the territories of our homeland can’t be contested.”
The ruling marked the primary time any worldwide court docket has weighed in on the core points associated to the legality of Israel’s occupation of the territory it seized throughout the 1967 conflict with neighboring Arab international locations.
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The case was initiated by a December 2022 U.N. Basic Meeting decision, however has since taken on added weight because the decades-long battle has shifted right into a interval of unprecedented bloodshed. The Hamas-led assault on Oct. 7 killed about 1,200 folks in Israel, and the following battle in Gaza has develop into one of many century’s most harmful wars, to this point claiming greater than 38,000 Palestinian lives, in response to the Gaza Well being Ministry.
It’s the newest ratcheting-up of worldwide authorized stress towards Israel. South Africa has lodged a separate case on the ICJ arguing that Israel is committing genocide towards Palestinians, accusations Israel has vehemently denied. The prosecutor for the Worldwide Felony Court docket, an intergovernmental group additionally in The Hague, is looking for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Protection Minister Yoav Gallant.
Philippe Sands, a member of the Palestinian authorized group, described Friday’s opinion as “massively important” and probably much more so in the long run than the genocide case, because it addresses the “core of Israel’s coverage.”
“No matter Israel’s response, far-reaching authorized dedication may have important political penalties, in heaping stress on Israel and rushing up the method of recognition of the State of six by ever extra international locations,” he stated.
The court docket was requested to find out the impression of Israel’s occupation, the implications of its “ongoing violation” of the suitable of the Palestinian folks to self-determination, and its “discriminatory legal guidelines” and measures aimed toward altering “the demographic composition, character and standing” of Jerusalem.
The questions the court docket was requested to discover “characterize a transparent distortion of historical past,” Israel stated in a assertion submitted to the ICJ final 12 months.
“In pointing a finger at one aspect solely, the questions overlook hundreds of lifeless and wounded Israelis who’ve fallen sufferer to murderous Palestinian acts of hatred and terrorism — acts that proceed to hazard Israel’s civilians and nationwide safety every day,” the Israeli assertion stated. “The Israeli-Palestinian battle just isn’t a cartoon narrative of villain and sufferer during which there are not any Israeli rights and no Palestinian obligations.”
The ICJ stated Israel was liable for restitution of property misplaced by “all pure or authorized individuals involved,” or in circumstances the place that isn’t doable, ought to pay compensation. It accused Israel of a “systematic failure” in stopping or punishing assaults by settlers within the West Financial institution, making a “coercive setting” for Palestinians that’s inconsistent with Israel’s duties as an occupying energy.
It stated Israel’s insurance policies and practices “entrench” its management of illegally occupied territory, creating “irreversible results on the bottom” that basically quantity to the annexation of “giant components” of Palestinian territory.
Israel occupied the West Financial institution, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in 1967 throughout a swift and resounding defeat of Arab armies led by Egypt, Syria and Jordan. A lot worldwide diplomacy on the battle envisages a two-state resolution based mostly on pre-1967 borders — a acknowledged objective of the Biden administration — however Israel has steadily expanded its settlements, drastically altering the territory.
Between November 2022 and October 2023, Israel “superior or accepted” 24,300 new housing models on occupied territory, Salam stated. That included 9,670 in East Jerusalem.
Israel claims sovereignty over everything of Jerusalem, describing it as its “everlasting” and “undivided capital.”
Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005, however retained management of its borders and ports, and the United Nations nonetheless considers the enclave occupied territory.
Within the West Financial institution, Palestinians have been squeezed into ever-shrinking islands of land. Presenting the Palestinian case to the ICJ this 12 months, Riad Malki, the Palestinian Authority’s overseas minister on the time, accused Israel of “colonialism and apartheid.” He held up maps to point out the drastic erosion of Palestinian territory.
Throughout the court docket’s hearings this 12 months, 52 international locations introduced opinions, with most urging the court docket to declare Israel’s occupation unlawful. Richard Visek, the authorized consultant of the USA, described the court docket’s process as “severe and troublesome.” He stated any opinion ought to reinforce the prospect of a two-state resolution and warned towards a name for a “unilateral, fast and unconditional withdrawal that doesn’t account for Israel’s authentic safety wants.”
The ICJ was established after World Warfare II to settle disputes between international locations. The court docket consists of 15 judges elected for nine-year phrases by the U.N. Basic Meeting and Safety Council.
