Israel must revoke all laws and measures that create or maintain its illegal occupation of Palestinian territories.

On Friday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) determined that Israeli settlement policies “violate international law” and that their “continued presence” in Palestine is “illegal.”

The court demanded the “evacuation of all settlers,” the “dismantling” of the separation wall, and the return of lands to their original residents displaced since 1967.

The ICJ ruled that Israeli settlements and their associated regime in the West Bank and East Jerusalem were “established and maintained in violation of international law,” and Israel’s “continued presence” in the Palestinian territories (including the Gaza Strip) is “illegal” and must end “as soon as possible,” stated Presiding Judge Nawaf Salam, who read the conclusions of a majority of the 15 judges of the ICJ.

The UN’s highest judicial body issued its advisory opinion at the request of the UN General Assembly in December 2022, regarding the legal consequences of Israeli occupation practices and policies in the occupied Palestinian territories, after declaring the ICJ competent to rule on the matter against the wishes of Israel and its allies.

The court warned Israel that it must “revoke all laws and measures that create or maintain the illegal situation, including those that discriminate against the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as all measures intended to alter the demographic composition of any part of the territory.”

The ICJ believes that Israel is obligated to “provide full reparations for the damages caused by its internationally wrongful acts to all affected natural or legal persons,” which includes “restitution, compensation, and/or satisfaction” for those affected, meaning “returning the land and other real estate,” as well as “all cultural property and assets taken from Palestinians and Palestinian institutions, including archives and documents” seized since the occupation began in 1967.

Furthermore, reparation “also requires the evacuation of all settlers from existing settlements” and “the dismantling of parts of the wall built by Israel that are 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 regretted that Israel’s policies and practices “induce the departure of the Palestinian population from parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly East Jerusalem and Area C of the West Bank,” which “enables further expansion of Israel’s settlement policy and the integration of Palestinian territory into Israel.”

“All States (and international organizations, including the UN) have an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation resulting from the illegal presence of the State of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories and not to provide aid or assistance to maintain the situation created by the continued presence of the State of Israel” in Palestine, the court added.

It further stated that the UN and the Security Council “must consider the precise modalities and additional actions necessary to end the illegal presence of the State of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories as quickly as possible.”

The ICJ thus answered the two questions posed by the UN General Assembly in a case prior to the current Israeli war in the Gaza Strip.

The first: “What are the legal consequences arising from Israel’s continued violation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, its prolonged occupation, settlement, and annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967, including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character, and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and its adoption of discriminatory legislation and measures related to it?”

Additionally, the UN General Assembly questioned: “How do the mentioned Israeli policies and practices… affect the legal status of the occupation, and what are the legal consequences for all States and the United Nations arising from this status?”

The ICJ emphasized that, by virtue of its status as an occupying power, a State assumes a set of powers and duties regarding the territory over which it exercises effective control, but reminded Israel “that occupation is a temporary situation to respond to a military necessity, and cannot transfer sovereignty to the occupying power.”

 

Source: https://www.telesurenglish.net

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