Top UN court says Israel’s presence in occupied Palestinian territories is illegal and should end

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The prime United Nations court stated Friday that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is illegal and referred to as on it to end, and for settlement building to cease instantly, issuing an unprecedented, sweeping condemnation of Israel’s rule over the lands it captured 57 years in the past.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rapidly denounced the nonbinding opinion issued by the 15-judge panel of the International Court of Justice, saying the territories are a part of the Jewish folks’s historic homeland. But the resounding breadth of the choice might influence worldwide opinion and gas strikes for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.

The judges pointed to a large listing of insurance policies, together with the constructing and growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, use of the realm’s pure assets, the annexation and imposition of everlasting management over lands and discriminatory insurance policies towards Palestinians, all of which it stated violated worldwide legislation.

The court stated Israel had no proper to sovereignty in the territories, was violating worldwide legal guidelines towards buying territory by drive and was impeding Palestinians’ proper to self-determination. It stated different nations had been obliged to not “render aid or assistance in maintaining” Israel’s presence in the territories. It stated Israel should end settlement building instantly and that present settlements should be eliminated, based on a abstract of the greater than 80-page opinion learn out by court President Nawaf Salam.

Israel’s “abuse of its status as the occupying power” renders its “presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful,” the court stated, saying its presence should be ended as “rapidly as possible.”

The court’s opinion, sought by the U.N. General Assembly after a Palestinian request, got here towards the backdrop of Israel’s devastating navy assault on Gaza, which was triggered by the Hamas-led assaults in southern Israel on Oct. 7. In a separate case, the International Court of Justice is contemplating a South African declare that Israel’s marketing campaign in Gaza quantities to genocide, a declare that Israel vehemently denies.

The court stated the General Assembly and Security Council — the place staunch Israeli ally the United States holds a veto — should take into account “the precise modalities” to end Israel’s presence in the territories.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will promptly transmit the advisory opinion to the 193-member world physique and “it is for the General Assembly to decide how to proceed in the matter,” U.N. deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq stated.

The secretary-general reiterates his name for Israel and the Palestinians to interact “on the long-delayed political path in direction of ending the occupation and resolving the battle in line with worldwide legislation, related U.N. resolutions and bilateral agreements,” the spokesperson stated.

Guterres additionally careworn {that a} two-state resolution is “the only viable path” to seeing Israel and “a fully independent, democratic, contiguous, viable and sovereign Palestinian state” residing facet by facet in peace and safety, Haq stated.

Israel, which usually considers the United Nations and worldwide tribunals as unfair and biased, didn’t ship a authorized staff to the hearings. Instead, it submitted written feedback, saying that the questions put to the court are prejudiced and fail to handle Israeli safety considerations. Israeli officers have stated the court’s intervention might undermine the peace course of, which has been stagnant for greater than a decade.

“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,” Netanyahu stated in an announcement issued by his workplace, utilizing the biblical phrases for the West Bank. “No false decision in The Hague will distort this historical truth and likewise the legality of Israeli settlement in all the territories of our homeland cannot be contested.”

Speaking exterior the court, Riad Malki, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, referred to as the opinion “a watershed moment for Palestine, for justice and for international law.”

He stated different nations should now “uphold the clear obligations” outlined by the court. “No actions of any kind … to support Israel’s illegal occupation.”

Hamas welcomed the court’s choice and stated in an announcement that “serious steps on the ground” should be taken in response.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast warfare. The Palestinians search all three areas for an impartial state.

Israel considers the West Bank to be disputed territory, the way forward for which should be determined in negotiations, whereas it has moved populations there in settlements to solidify its maintain. It has annexed east Jerusalem in a transfer that isn’t internationally acknowledged, whereas it withdrew from Gaza in 2005 however maintained a blockade of the territory after Hamas took energy in 2007. The worldwide group typically considers all three areas to be occupied territory.

The court’s choice strikes on the coronary heart of the anomaly of Israel’s administration of the territories. Israel hasn’t annexed the West Bank — although settler teams have pressed it to take action — but it surely calls it a part of its homeland and has successfully handled it as an extension of the nation. Along with the settlements, it has appropriated giant swaths of the territory as “state lands.” At the identical time, Netanyahu’s authorities has repeatedly rejected the creation of any Palestinian state. Abbas’ Palestinian Authority has been restricted to regulate over divided enclaves scattered across the West Bank.

The Palestinians introduced arguments at hearings in February, together with 49 different nations and three worldwide organizations. In the hearings, Malki accused Israel of apartheid and urged the United Nations’ prime court to declare that Israel’s occupation of lands sought by the Palestinians is illegal and should end instantly and unconditionally for any hope for a two-state future to outlive.

Erwin van Veen, a senior analysis fellow on the Clingendael assume tank in The Hague, stated earlier than the choice {that a} ruling that Israel’s insurance policies breach worldwide legislation would “isolate Israel further internationally, at least from a legal point of view.”

He stated such a ruling would take away “any kind of legal, political, philosophical underpinning of the Israeli expansion project.” It might additionally improve the variety of international locations that acknowledge a Palestinian state, in specific in the Western world, following the current instance of Spain, Norway and Ireland, he stated.

It’s not the primary time the ICJ has been requested to provide its authorized opinion on Israeli insurance policies. Two a long time in the past, the court dominated that Israel’s West Bank separation barrier was “contrary to international law.” Israel boycotted these proceedings, saying they had been politically motivated.

Israel says the barrier is a safety measure. Palestinians say the construction quantities to an enormous land seize, as a result of it incessantly dips into the West Bank.

The court stated that Israel’s building of settlements in the West Bank violated worldwide legal guidelines prohibiting international locations from transferring their inhabitants into territories they occupy.

Israel has constructed nicely over 100 settlements, based on the anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now. The West Bank settler inhabitants has grown by greater than 15% in the previous 5 years to greater than 500,000 Israelis, based on a pro-settler group. Their residents are Israeli residents ruled by home legislation and served by authorities ministries, providers, banks and different companies — successfully integrating them into Israel.

Israel additionally has annexed east Jerusalem and considers all the metropolis to be its capital. An further 200,000 Israelis reside in settlements constructed in east Jerusalem that Israel considers to be neighborhoods of its capital. Palestinian residents of town face systematic discrimination, making it troublesome for them to construct new houses or broaden present ones.

The worldwide group considers all settlements to be illegal or obstacles to peace since they’re constructed on lands sought by the Palestinians for his or her state.

Netanyahu’s hard-line authorities is dominated by settlers and their political supporters. Netanyahu has given his Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a former settler chief, unprecedented authority over settlement coverage. Smotrich has used this place to cement Israel’s management over the West Bank by pushing ahead plans to construct extra settlement houses and to legalize outposts.

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Associated Press author Edith M. Lederer contributed from the United Nations.