UN court says Israel’s presence in occupied territories is illegal and must end

The top United Nations court has ruled that Israel’s presence in the Palestinian occupied territories is “unlawful” and called on it to end.

The court pointed to the building and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and east Jerusalem, its annexation and imposition of permanent control over lands and discriminatory policies against Palestinians.

The International Court of Justice was issuing a non-binding opinion on the legality of Israel’s 57-year occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state, and the ruling is likely to have more effect on international opinion than it will on Israeli policies.

The court’s panel of 15 judges from around the world said Israel has abused its status as the occupying power in the West Bank and east Jerusalem by carrying out policies of annexing territory, imposing permanent control and building settlements.

It said Israel must end settlement construction immediately.

It said such acts render “Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful”.

It says its continued presence was ”illegal” and should be ended as “rapidly as possible”.

Israel, which normally considers the United Nations and international tribunals as unfair and biased, did not send a legal team to the hearings.

But it submitted written comments, saying that the questions put to the court are prejudiced and fail to address Israeli security concerns.

Israeli officials have said the court’s intervention could undermine the peace process, which has been stagnant for more than a decade.

In response to the ruling, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the West Bank and east Jerusalem were part of the Jewish people’s historical “homeland”.

“The Jewish people are not conquerors in their own land – not in our eternal capital Jerusalem and not in the land of our ancestors in Judea and Samaria,” he said in a post on the social media platform X.

“No false decision in The Hague will distort this historical truth and likewise the legality of Israeli settlement in all the territories of our homeland cannot be contested.”

In the opinion read out by court president Nawaf Salam, the court found that “the transfer by Israel of settlers to the West Bank and Jerusalem as well as Israel’s maintenance of their presence, is contrary to article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention”.

The court also noted with “grave concern” that Israel’s settlement policy has been expanding.

The court also found that Israel’s use of natural resources was “inconsistent” with its obligations under international law as an occupying power.

Friday’s ruling comes against the backdrop of Israel’s devastating 10-month military assault on Gaza, which was triggered by the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel.

In a separate case, the International Court of Justice is considering a South African claim that Israel’s campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide, a claim that Israel vehemently denies.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three areas for an independent state.

Israel considers the West Bank to be disputed territory, whose future should be decided in negotiations, while it has moved population there in settlements to solidify its hold.

It has annexed east Jerusalem in a move that is not internationally recognised, while it withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but maintained a blockade of the territory after Hamas took power in 2007.

The international community generally considers all three areas to be occupied territory.

At hearings in February, then-Palestinian foreign minister Riad Malki accused Israel of apartheid and urged the United Nations’ top court to declare that Israel’s occupation of lands sought by the Palestinians is illegal and must end immediately and unconditionally for any hope for a two-state future to survive.

It is not the first time the ICJ has been asked to give its legal opinion on Israeli policies. Two decades ago, the court ruled that Israel’s West Bank separation barrier was “contrary to international law”.

Israel boycotted those proceedings, saying they were politically motivated.

Israel says the barrier is a security measure. Palestinians say the structure amounts to a massive land grab because it frequently dips into the West Bank.

The UN General Assembly voted by a wide margin in December 2022 to ask the world court for the advisory opinion. Israel vehemently opposed the request that was promoted by the Palestinians. Fifty countries abstained from voting.

Israel has built well over 100 settlements, according to the anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now. The West Bank settler population has grown by more than 15% in the past five years to more than 500,000 Israelis, according to a pro-settler group.

Israel also has annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city to be its capital. An additional 200,000 Israelis live in settlements built in east Jerusalem that Israel considers to be neighbourhoods of its capital.

Palestinian residents of the city face systematic discrimination, making it difficult for them to build new homes or expand existing ones.

The international community considers all settlements to be illegal or obstacles to peace since they are built on lands sought by the Palestinians for their state.

Mr Netanyahu’s hard-line government is dominated by settlers and their political supporters.

Mr Netanyahu has given his finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a former settler leader, unprecedented authority over settlement policy.

Mr Smotrich has used this position to cement Israel’s control over the West Bank by pushing forward plans to build more settlement homes and to legalise outposts.