If there was any lingering ambiguity about the illegality of Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory, it should have been quashed by a landmark ruling from the world’s top court. In a detailed 83-page advisory opinion released last week, the International Court of Justice probed Israel’s activities in Palestinian lands it has controlled since 1967. The result was damning.
The UN court found that virtually every Israeli action in the territory violated international law. The settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that are home to some 700,000 Israeli Jews. The restrictions on the free movement of Palestinians. Their forced displacement and the demolitions of their homes. It concluded that Israel’s practices amount to annexation of large parts of the occupied territory, adding that they are designed to “create irreversible effects on the ground”. Israel’s presence was “unlawful” and it was obliged to end it as “rapidly as possible”.
The opinion is non-binding, and it will not temper the behaviour of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, which includes ultranationalist settlers who advocate annexing the West Bank. Indeed, settlement construction has accelerated under Netanyahu’s watch as he has boasted of thwarting Palestinian ambitions for statehood. Israel also has a history of ignoring UN resolutions and international court judgments critical of its actions, with the quiet acquiescence of its western allies.