The highest court of the United Nations issued an advisory opinion on July 19 said that Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, “is illegal”. It responded to a the request of the United Nations General Assembly on the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.
“The advisory opinion reaffirms the binding norms prohibiting annexation, settlement, apartheid and racial discrimination, and should be considered declaratory and binding on Israel and all states supporting the occupation,” the experts said. speak.
Autonomy
Furthermore, the Court rejects the view that Palestinian self-determination must be achieved entirely through bilateral negotiations with Israel, they added, noting that this requirement has subjected Palestinians to violence, deprivation and rights violations over the past 30 years.
“The court has finally reaffirmed a principle that seems obscure even to the United Nations: Freedom from foreign military occupation, racial discrimination and apartheid is absolutely non-negotiable,” the experts said.
They also welcomed the Court’s recognition that the conversion of occupation into annexation by demolishing homes, refusing to issue housing permits and seizing land violates the peremptory norms prohibiting the use of force to annex occupied territory.
“May this historic ruling be the beginning of the realization of the fundamental right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and peace based on freedom for all,” they said.
‘An important tool’
The advisory opinion “will serve as an important tool to restore respect for international law, especially at this critical time when the Court is also considering Israel’s alleged violations of the Genocide Convention,” they added.
They recall that it happened 20 years after a International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the illegality of Israel’s construction of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory – an “authoritative judgment” that Israel and UN member states have largely ignored, they said, thus “allowing impunity to prevail”.
They warned that Israel had stepped up attacks on both civilians and resources in Gaza since the July 19 ruling.
“Israel must comply with this advisory opinion and other ICJ orders issued this year,” they said. “Israel must stop acting as if it is the only one above the law.”
Call for arms embargo
Rights experts added that “while the United Nations Security Council and the General Assembly will consider strategies to ensure a swift end to the illegal occupation… States must immediately review all diplomatic, political and economic relations with Israel, including business and financial, pension funds, academia and charities.”
They call for action, including arms embargo and targeted sanctions, as well as investigations and prosecutions of those involved in crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in particular dual citizens serving in the Israeli military or participating in settler violence.
“The Court’s findings should also be widely disseminated to ensure that the illegality of Israel’s presence in the occupied territories is fully understood at all levels of government and reflected in public documents and the education system,” they said.
“Laws and policies that punish opposition or impede advocacy against the Israeli occupation and apartheid regime must be repealed.”
The role of independent experts
The experts who made this statement were all appointed by the United Nations. Dong Nhan Quy Association in Geneva, and forms part of the body Special Procedures.
Special Rapporteurs and members of the United Nations Working Group are tasked by the Human Rights Council to monitor and report on specific human rights situations or thematic issues.
They serve in their personal capacity; they are not employees of the United Nations and receive no salary.
