World Court: Israeli presence in East Jerusalem, West Bank is illegal and must end
ICJ says Israel’s actions in West Bank amount to de facto annexation, calls for end of Israeli control; PM slams decision: ‘The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land’
Judges for the International Court of Justice rise before delivering a non-binding ruling on Israeli rule in the West Bank and East Jerusalem at the ICJ in The Hague on July 19, 2024
In a conclusive and unambiguous decision, the International Court of Justice declared in a non-binding ruling Friday that Israel’s 56-year long rule in “the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967” is “illegal,” and that it is obligated to bring its presence in that territory to an end “as rapidly as possible.”
In its decision, the ICJ said it determined Israel’s policy of settlement in the West Bank violates international law, and that Israel had effectively annexed large parts of the West Bank — along with East Jerusalem, which was formally annexed in1980 — due to some of the apparently permanent aspects of Israeli rule there.
The legal consequences of its findings, the court ruled, were that Israel must end its control of these areas, cease new settlement activity, “repeal all legislation and measures creating or maintaining the unlawful situation” — including those which it said “discriminate against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” — and provide reparations for any damage caused by its “wrongful acts.”
In addition, the court said that all UN member states are obligated not to recognize changes to the status of the territory, and that all states are obligated not to aid or assist Israel’s rule of the territories, and ensure that any impediment “to the exercise of the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination is brought to an end.”
The court also said that despite the complete civilian and military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Israel has “remained capable of exercising, and continued to exercise, certain key elements of authority” there. It added “this is even more so” since the Hamas-led October 7 attack that started the ongoing Gaza war.
The ICJ’s decision is an advisory opinion and has no direct legal consequences on Israel or other UN member states, but it could be another blow to the Jewish state’s international standing and add political pressure over its devastating nine-month-old war against Palestinian terror group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel did not take part in the hearings, instead submitting a written contribution that described the questions the court had been asked as “prejudicial” and “tendentious.”
Netanyahu: False and distorted decision
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, numerous cabinet ministers as well as settler leaders roundly denounced the ruling, with some calling for the immediate formal annexation of the West Bank in response.
“The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land — not in our eternal capital Jerusalem, not in the land of our ancestors in Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu said, using the biblical names for the West Bank. “No false decision in The Hague will distort this historical truth, just as the legality of Israeli settlement in all the territories of our homeland cannot be contested.”
Some opposition lawmakers also denounced the decision, with National Unity party leader Benny Gantz denouncing the opinion as “external interference.”
“We vow to both continue defending ourselves in the face of those seeking our destruction and to protect the one and only Jewish State,” he said.
Members of left-wing opposition parties insisted, however, that Israeli policy was at fault, with Labor MK Gilad Kariv stating that the government’s “de facto annexation” of the West Bank, “theft of land” and refusal to conduct negotiations with the Palestinians meant that it would by definition be unable to preserve “Israel’s status as an accepted democratic country.”
PA’s Abbas: Compel Israel to implement ruling
The Palestinian Authority, which lobbied for the UN General Assembly to request the advisory opinion, hailed the court’s opinion.
“[PA President Mahmoud Abbas] considers it a historic decision and demands that Israel be compelled to implement it,” said a statement from his office on official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Abbas’s office added that it considers “the court’s decision a victory for justice, as it confirmed that the Israeli occupation is illegitimate.”
Hamas also praised the ruling, with a statement from the terror organization saying it puts “the international system before the imperative of immediate action to end the occupation.”
Settlements are ‘not temporary in character’
The request for the advisory opinion was filed with the court by the UN General Assembly in January 2023 and sought a ruling as to the legal consequences arising, it said, “from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, [and] from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.”
It also sought the ICJ position on how Israel’s “policies and practices” in the territories “affect the legal status of the occupation.”
The court notably cited Israeli decisions and legislation regarding its rule in the West Bank, including quoting from the basic principles document of the current government which states that “the Jewish people have an exclusive and inalienable right to all parts of the Land of Israel,” and that the government will “promote and develop the settlement” of all parts of the land, including “Judea and Samaria.”
It also quoted from Israel’s 2018 Nation State Basic Law, which has quasi-constitutional status, which said that “Jewish settlement” was a “national value.” The relevant clause in the law does not specify where the state should promote settlement and employs a Hebrew word that can be used generally for settling land and has no geographic connotations.
Along with Gaza, Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War. The former was ruled by Egypt, which had a military administration in the enclave, while the latter were controlled and annexed by Jordan.
The court dealt methodically with the parameters of the UN General Assembly’s request, including Israel’s policy of building and expanding Israeli neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and settlements in the West Bank.
In particular, it said “the expansion of settlements is based on the confiscation or requisition of large areas of land,” and that since this benefits the settler population “to the detriment of local [Palestinian] population,” Israel’s settlements policy violated The Hague Regulations, founding documents of international law.
It also said the settlements “are not temporary in character,” thus violating the Fourth Geneva Convention and accepted principles of international law that “belligerent occupations” are supposed to be temporary.
Critically, the ICJ asserted that Israel has annexed large parts of the West Bank, along with its formal annexation of East Jerusalem.
“Israel’s extension of its domestic law to the West Bank, notably to the settlements and over settlers, as well as its assumption of broad regulatory powers by virtue of the prolonged character of the occupation, entrenches its control of the occupied territory,” the court determined.
“The court comes to the conclusion that Israel’s policies and practices, including maintenance and expansion of settlements, the construction of associated infrastructure and the [security] wall, the exploitation of natural resources, the proclamation of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the comprehensive application of Israeli domestic law in East Jerusalem and its extensive application in the West Bank, entrench Israeli control of the occupied Palestinians territories, notably of East Jerusalem and Area C of the West Bank,” it continued.
Crucially, it said that these practices “are designed to remain in place indefinitely and to create irreversible effects on the ground.”
As such, the ICJ charged that Israel’s 56-year rule in the Palestinian territories was illegal.
“The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying power through its annexation and assertion of permanent control over occupied Palestinian territory, and its 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,” the court determined.
“This illegality relates to the entirety of Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in 1967. This is the territorial unit across which Israel has imposed policies and practices to fragment and frustrate the ability of the Palestinian people to exercise its right to self-determination, and over large swaths of which it has extended Israeli sovereignty in violation of international law.”
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