The ICJ (International Court of Justice) considered this Friday, July 19, 2024, that Israel’s presence in Palestinian territories in the West Bank is “illegal” and ordered the country to end the occupation “as quickly as possible.” It was the first time that the court issued a ruling on the legality of the occupation in 57 years.
The body, linked to the UN (United Nations), stated that “Israel’s policies and practices amount to the annexation of large parts of Palestinian territory” and that the action represents a violation of international law.
According to an excerpt from the opinion, “Israel’s persistent abuse of its position as an occupying power, through the annexation and assertion of permanent control over occupied Palestinian territory and the ongoing frustration of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory illegal.”
Israel’s restrictions on the Palestinian people are considered by the Court to be a form of “systemic discrimination based on race, religion, or ethnic origin,” and the government is required to make good on the harm caused by the occupation over the years.
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The ICJ also advised that countries avoid supplying or providing military assistance to Israel so as not to prolong the conflict.
On his profile on X (formerly Twitter), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the decision.
“The Jewish people are not occupiers of their own land, including our eternal capital Jerusalem, nor of Judea and Samaria [the West Bank], our historic homeland. No absurd opinion in The Hague can deny this historical truth or the legal right of Israelis to live in their own communities in our ancestral home,” he wrote.
The Gaza Strip and the West Bank are acknowledged as belonging to Palestine on a global scale. Since 1967, however, Israel has occupied the majority of the region.
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