The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has stated that Israel’s settlement policies and exploitation of natural resources in the Palestinian territory are in breach of international law.

The court ruled that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and that it should come to an end “as rapidly as possible.”

Nawaf Salam, president of the ICJ in The Hague, read out the nonbinding advisory opinion on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.

The case stems from a 2022 request from the UN General Assembly.

Salam said that Israel was in breach of the sixth paragraph of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which says the occupying power should not deport or transfer part of its civilian population into the territory it occupies.

“Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law,” Salam said, reading the findings of a 15-judge panel.

He added that Israel’s policies and practices in the Palestinian territory amounted to the annexation of large parts of these territories and that the court finds Israel systematically discriminates against Palestinians in the occupied territory.

The president of the International Court of Justice said that basically, all the arguments that were brought forward by 52 states and international organisations during the hearings were valid.

According to Geoffrey Nice, a human rights barrister, the opinion issued by the highest UN court will surely affect Israel’s standing in the world.

Nice said that the UN General Assembly could now potentially move forward with suspending Israel’s activities at the organisation.

“Israel is going to suffer. Is it going to suffer because of trade sanctions or matters of that sort? It’s hard to tell at this stage. But it’s going to suffer almost inevitably in the approach that is going to be taken by countries to the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza.”
Geoffrey Nice

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, responded to the ICJ’s ruling, saying that he was “grateful” and calling it an “additional force…to add to the arsenal that we have in order to continue resisting this illegal occupation.”

“Our people want to put an end to this occupation,” he said from the Hague.

“What happened today is a significant step in the direction of ending occupation and attaining the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self determination, statehood and the right of the refugees to return.”
Riyad Mansour

He said that Palestinian officials would study “all the nuances” of the ruling, develop a plan, and eventually “produce a masterpiece of a resolution in the General Assembly in line with this historic decision of the ICJ”.

Netanyahu Says Jewish People Not Occupiers In Their Own Land

Even after the ICJ ruling, Israeli Prime Minister refused to recognise occupied Palestinian territory.

“The Jewish people are not conquerors in their own land – neither in our eternal capital Jerusalem nor in the land of our ancestors in Judea and Samaria,” he said in a post on X, referring to the occupied West Bank using its Israeli name.

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

Also in a post on X, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said that Judea and Samaria is the land of our ancestors, referring to the biblical name for the occupied West Bank.

“For 2,000 years we prayed to return there and no distorted decision of a biased and anti-Semitic court will move us an inch,” he said.

He further referred to the 2005 Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as a mistake, saying Israel would not replicated it by ending its occupation of the West Bank.