The International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest court, said in a landmark opinion issued on Friday that Israel’s policies and practices in its occupation of Palestinian territory constitute a violation of international law.
The International Court of Justice said in its opinion, read by Judge Nawaf Salam: Ban Ki-moon, the head of the world body, said Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as “their associated regime,” were established and maintained in violation of international law.
The International Court of Justice said that Israel must stop all new settlement activities and evacuate settlers from Palestinian lands.
She added that Israel practices systematic discrimination against Palestinians and describes the occupation of the territories as “de facto annexation,” and that Israel’s exploitation of natural resources in the Palestinian territories similarly violates international law.
The court said its “illegal policies and practices” constituted “a violation of the Israeli government’s obligation to respect the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.”
The International Court of Justice, based in The Hague, Netherlands, was examining the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory in the wake of to request From the United Nations General Assembly.
The General Assembly had asked the court in January 2023, before the Hamas attack on October 7 and the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, to provide an opinion on Israel’s “policies and practices” towards the Palestinians and the legal status of the occupation of the Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
In a statement issued on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the ICJ ruling as “false,” saying that “the Jewish people are not conquerors in their own land,” referring to Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Benny Gantz, a more moderate Israeli politician and former member of the war cabinet, said the opinion “harms security and stability in the region” and that Israel “will continue to defend ourselves against those who seek to destroy us.”
In contrast, the Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry described the opinion as a “watershed moment,” adding that the ruling means that “the international community is obligated not only to reaffirm the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination but also to ensure that this right is implemented immediately.”
Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative and a veteran Palestinian political activist, welcomed the ICJ opinion, calling it “a great victory for the Palestinian people and a major blow to Israel.”
“No more excuses. The international community must force Israel to end the occupation,” B’Tselem, a Jerusalem-based nonprofit that documents human rights violations in the Palestinian territories, said in a statement on Friday.
Although the court’s advisory opinion is not legally binding, it could have significant political impact at a time when Israel is facing a backlash and growing isolation over its deadly military offensive in Gaza, where nearly 39,000 people, including thousands of children, have been killed since the war began, according to local health officials.
The decision also comes just one day after the Israeli parliament (Knesset) voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state, despite mounting pressure from the international community, including the United States, which has officially supported the idea of a two-state solution for decades.
The ICJ’s opinion on Friday comes separate from another ongoing case brought to the court by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in its attack on Gaza, a charge both the United States and Israel deny.
The General Assembly had requested the International Court of Justice to intervene on “the legal consequences arising from the continuing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.”
The committee also asked the court to give its opinion on how Israel’s policies and practices affect the “legal status of the occupation” and what the legal consequences might be “for all States and the United Nations”.
Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in 1967 during the Six-Day War. In 2005, in the face of international and domestic pressure, Israel declared that it would not accept any form of recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Israel withdrew its troops and thousands of Israeli settlers from Gaza, leaving the Strip under the rule of the Palestinian Authority, while continuing to occupy the West Bank and Jerusalem.
In 2006, Hamas was elected to power, replacing the Palestinian Authority as the governing body in Gaza. In response, Israel dramatically tightened its control over Gaza’s borders, coastline and airspace, and imposed a seventeen-year blockade that has crippled Gaza’s economy and had a devastating impact on the daily lives of Palestinian civilians. Israel says the blockade is necessary to ensure the safety of its population from Hamas.
Throughout the West Bank, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have built massive settlements, many of which have displaced Palestinian communities. The international community largely considers these settlements illegal.
In March, Israel also agreed to seize nearly five square miles of land in the Jordan Valley, the largest land grab in the West Bank in decades. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric called the move “a step in the wrong direction,” adding: “The direction we want to go is to find a negotiated two-state solution.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, where the city’s most sensitive holy sites are located, is not internationally recognized.
As an occupying power, Israel’s actions in the territories are expected to comply with the rules of international law governing occupation.
Netanyahu has It was said before Israel does not recognize the legitimacy of the ICJ proceedings. It has denounced the case as part of a “Palestinian attempt to dictate the outcome” of a political settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without negotiations.
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