Palestinians urge world to end Israel’s occupation after ICJ ruling
Palestinian activists and political factions called for immediate international action to end Israel’s occupation after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the regime’s presence in Palestinian territory is unlawful.
Many activists and legal experts say the Friday’s ruling by the ICJ, which has found that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories is unlawful, will do little to improve life for Palestinians.
Other states must now apply collective pressure on Israel to end its rule over Gaza and the West Bank, including annexed East Al-Quds, if the situation there is to change, they said.
The world’s highest court concluded on Friday – with 12-3 judges in favor – that Israel is forcibly displacing Palestinians from their lands, exploiting water sources, annexing large swaths of the occupied territory “by force” and is violating the right of Palestinians to “self-determination”.
The ICJ also ruled that Israel must stop all building of settlements in the West Bank and should compensate Palestinians for human rights violations in the occupied territory.
Call for ‘immediate’
action
Hamas resistance group called for “immediate” international action to end Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
A statement from the group, which has been fighting Israel in Gaza since the October 7 attacks, welcomed the ruling from the International Court of Justice, saying it puts “the international system before the imperative of immediate action to end the occupation”.
The office of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said it welcomed the “historic decision and demands that Israel be compelled to implement it.”
Palestinian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Varsen Aghabekian Shahin hailed “a great day for Palestine” while Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the ICJ ruling as ‘decision of lies’.
Iceland’s Foreign Ministry has also backed the ICJ’s advisory opinion, saying that, “The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion is clear. Continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem [Al-Quds] is unlawful, and so are its settlement activities Iceland calls on Israel to cease all activity that violates international law,” the ministry said on X.
Slovenia also welcomed the ICJ’s decision. In a statement, the Slovenian Foreign Ministry called on the UN and member states to take adequate steps to implement the ICJ’s interpretation of international law.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Nasser Kanaani said reacted to the ICJ’s ruling, saying that the international community, especially the UN Security Council, should take practical steps to end Israel’s aggressions against Palestinians and the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territory.
No global action
However, Zainah el-Haroun, the spokesperson for Al-Haq, a Palestinian nonprofit organization based in the West Bank that monitors human rights violations, said previous ICJ rulings have not led to global action against Israel.
She referenced the ICJ’s 2004 advisory opinion that found Israel’s separation wall and settlements on occupied Palestinian land illegal. Settlements have not only remained in the West Bank since the ruling, but the number of Israeli settlers living there has also risen from 250,000 in 1993 to more than 700,000 in 2023.
“These rulings mean nothing if third states and the international community fail to hold Israel accountable,” she told Al Jazeera.
Palestinian activists in the West Bank said they cannot celebrate the ICJ’s ruling when the situation across the occupied territory is worse than ever before.
They cited Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed nearly 39,000 Palestinians – the vast majority of them civilians – and has rendered the enclave uninhabitable.