A view of the Peace Palace, which houses the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, on January 26, 2024. Credit – Patrick Post—AP
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The UN’s top court said Friday that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is “unlawful” and called for an end to it and an immediate halt to settlement construction, delivering an unprecedented, sweeping condemnation of Israel’s rule over territories it conquered 57 years ago.
In a non-binding ruling, the International Court of Justice pointed to a long list of policies, including the construction and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the exploitation of the area’s natural resources, annexation and the imposition of permanent control over land, and discriminatory policies against Palestinians, all of which the court found violated international law.
The 15-judge panel said Israel’s “abuse of its status as an occupying power” made its “presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful.” It said its continued presence was “illegal” and must be ended “expeditiously.”
According to the 83-page judgment read out by the court’s president, Nawaf Salam, Israel must immediately stop building settlements and remove existing settlements.
Israel, which normally views the United Nations and international tribunals as unfair and biased, did not send a legal team to the hearings. But it filed written submissions saying the questions posed to the court were biased and did not address Israeli security concerns. Israeli officials have said the court’s intervention could undermine the peace process, which has been stalled for more than a decade.
In response to the ruling, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the West Bank and East Jerusalem are part of the historic “homeland” of the Jewish people.
“The Jewish people are not conquerors in their own land – not in our eternal capital Jerusalem and not in the land of our ancestors in Judea and Samaria,” he said in a post on the social media platform X. “No false decision in The Hague will distort this historical truth, nor can the legality of the Israeli settlement in all areas of our homeland be disputed.”
The court’s ruling, requested by the UN General Assembly after a request from the Palestinians, is unlikely to have any effect on Israeli policy. But its resounding breadth — including a ruling that Israel could not claim sovereignty in the territories and that it impeded the Palestinians’ right to self-determination — could sway international opinion.
It came against the backdrop of Israel’s devastating 10-month military assault on Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel. In a separate case, the International Court of Justice is considering a South African claim that Israel’s campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide, a claim Israel vehemently denies.
Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war. The Palestinians want an independent state in all three areas.
Israel considers the West Bank to be disputed territory, the future of which must be decided in negotiations, and has relocated populations there in settlements to tighten its grip. It annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally, while withdrawing from Gaza in 2005 but maintaining a blockade on the area after Hamas seized power in 2007. The international community generally considers all three areas occupied.
During hearings in February, then-Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki accused Israel of apartheid and urged the United Nations Supreme Court to declare that Israel’s occupation of the territory the Palestinians are demanding is illegal and must end immediately and unconditionally if there is to be any hope of a two-state future.
The Palestinians presented their arguments in February, along with 49 other countries and three international organizations.
Erwin van Veen, senior researcher at think tank Clingendael in The Hague, said that if the court finds that Israeli policies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem violate international law, it “will further isolate Israel internationally, at least from a legal point of view.”
He said such a ruling “would worsen the case for occupation. It removes any kind of legal, political, philosophical basis for the Israeli expansion project.”
It would also strengthen the position of “those who oppose it” – such as the Palestinian-led grassroots movement advocating boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
He said it could also increase the number of countries recognizing the State of Palestine, particularly in the Western world, following the recent example of Spain, Norway and Ireland.”
This is not the first time the ICJ has been asked for a legal opinion on Israeli policy. Twenty years ago, the court ruled that Israel’s separation barrier in the West Bank was “in breach of international law.” Israel boycotted those proceedings, arguing they were politically motivated.
Israel says the barrier is a security measure. Palestinians say the construction amounts to a massive land grab because it often encroaches on the West Bank.
Israel has built more than 100 settlements, according to the anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now. The settler population in the West Bank has grown by more than 15 percent in the past five years to more than 500,000 Israelis, according to a pro-settler group.
Israel has also annexed East Jerusalem and considers the entire city its capital. Another 200,000 Israelis live in settlements built in East Jerusalem, which Israel considers neighborhoods of its capital. Palestinian residents of the city face systematic discrimination, making it difficult for them to build new homes or expand existing ones.
The international community considers all settlements illegal or an obstacle to peace because they are built on land that the Palestinians want to build for their state.
Netanyahu’s hardline government is dominated by settlers and their political supporters. Netanyahu has given his finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a former settler leader, unprecedented authority over settlement policy. Smotrich has used this position to cement Israel’s control over the West Bank by pushing through plans to build more settlements and legalize outposts.
Authorities recently approved the allocation of 12.7 square kilometers (nearly 5 square miles) of land in the Jordan Valley, a strategic piece of land deep in the West Bank, according to a copy of the order obtained by The Associated Press. Data from Peace Now, the tracking group, indicates it was the largest single allocation approved since the 1993 Oslo Accords that launched the peace process.
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