Credit: .icj-cij.org / International Court of Justice Courtroom in The Hague, Netherlands

By Gary Raynaldo   –  DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territory is a violation of international law, the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) said in a landmark opinion Friday that called on Israel to end its decades-long occupation “as rapidly as possible.”  In the 83-page opinion, the court, based in The Hague,  said all states, international organizations, including the United Nations, “are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”  Israel is “under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities, evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the opinion declared, and also to make “reparation for the damage caused to all the natural or legal persons concerned.”  The court also concluded that Israel’s occupation constitutes “systemic discrimination” based on race or ethnic origin. The opinion was in response to a request by the UN General Assembly in 2022. Israel has occupied the territory since 1967.

The office of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas welcomed a “historic” decision.  “The presidency welcomes the decision of the International Court of Justice, considers it a historic decision and demands that Israel be compelled to implement it,” it said in a statement on  official Palestinian news agency Wafa. President Abbas’s office added that it considers “the court’s decision a victory for justice, as it confirmed that the Israeli occupation is illegitimate”.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the ICJ’s opinion as “fundamentally wrong” and “blatantly one-sided” that mixes “politics and law.”  The Ministry said in a statement on the social media platform X that “the opinion ignores the atrocities that took place on October 7, as well as the security imperative of Israel to defend its territory and its citizens.”

The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations that was established by the UN Charter in June 1945. It is the highest UN body for hearing disputes between states.