The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday (July 19) has delivered a landmark verdict, declaring Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territory as unlawful. The ICJ denounced Israel’s 57-year rule and asked it to “cease immediately all new settlement activities”.
The court found that Israel’s policies and practices, including the expansion of settlements, construction of the wall, and exploitation of natural resources, amount to annexation and entrench Israel’s control over the occupied territory since 1967.
The ICJ ruled that the policies and practices adopted by Israel in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, is contrary to the “prohibition of the use of force in international relations and its corollary principle of the non-acquisition of territory by force”.
The 15-judge panel concluded that Israel’s legislation and measures impose near complete separation between settler and Palestinian communities, constituting a breach of the Article 3 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Article 3 states that “parties particularly condemn racial segregation and apartheid and undertake to prevent, prohibit and eradicate all practices of this nature in territories under their jurisdiction”.
The ICJ also found that Israel’s violations of international law have a direct impact on the legality of its continued presence in the occupied territory. Notably, it has underlined that Israel ‘remains bound’ by international statutes, and ‘must comply’ with how it exerts its jurisdiction outside its border, Reuters reported.
The court ruled that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied territory is “unlawful” and ordered it to “cease immediately all new settlement activities, and to evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The judges underlined that Israel has the obligation to make “reparation for the damage caused to all the natural or legal persons concerned” in the occupied territory.
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The ICJ further observed that “the effects of Israel’s policies and practices, and its exercise of sovereignty over certain parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, constitute an obstruction to the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination.”
“The effects of these policies and practices include Israel’s annexation of parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the fragmentation of this territory, undermining its integrity, the deprivation of the Palestinian people of the enjoyment of the natural resources of the territory and its impairment of the Palestinian people’s right to pursue its economic, social and cultural development,” the court added.
The court also found Israel’s settlement policies to be in clear breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which mandates that occupying powers provide sufficient resources to the occupied population.
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The ICJ considered two questions posed by the General Assembly: the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the OPT, and how these actions affect the legal status of the occupation under international law while delivering its highly anticipated advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s policies and practices in the OPT, including East Jerusalem. The court determined that these questions are legal in nature and fall within its jurisdiction under the UN Charter and its statute.
The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion is a significant development in the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While the opinion is non-binding, it carries significant weight and is expected to influence international debate and policy on the issue. India, which had abstained from the original resolution in the UN General Assembly seeking the ICJ’s advisory opinion, is likely to face scrutiny for its stance.
Israel, which typically views the United Nations and international courts as prejudiced and partial, abstained from sending a legal delegation to the proceedings, Associated Press reported.
Calling the ICJ verdict “absurd,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land, including in our eternal capital Jerusalem nor in Judea and Samaria, our historical homeland.”
Notably, Justice Dalveer Bhandari, an Indian Judge at the ICJ, has voted in favour of issuing provisional measures against Israel.