(Bloomberg) -- Israel should end its “unlawful” occupation of large parts of the Palestinian territory, the United Nations’ top court said in a legal opinion.
The UN General Assembly in December 2022 sought the Hague tribunal’s views on the legal consequences of the policies of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.
“The court observed that Israel’s legislation and measures imposed serve to maintain a near complete separation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem between the settler and Palestinian communities,” the International Court of Justice said in the Hague on Friday.
“For this reason, the court considered that Israel’s legislation and measures constitute a breach of the” apartheid and racial segregation laws, the judges said. Israel is “obliged to to make reparations to all natural and legal persons in occupied Palestinian territory.”
The court’s advisory opinions are not binding but are seen to carry moral and legal weight. The UN “remains free to decide, as it sees fit, what effect to give these opinions,” the ICJ says.
The advisory opinion comes amid diplomatic efforts to protect civilians in Palestine as the nine-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza continues. Israel began a military campaign in Gaza after Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took some 250 hostage on Oct. 7.
Israel’s offensive of Gaza has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Hamas is designated as a terrorist group by the US and European Union.
“The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land - neither in our eternal capital Jerusalem nor in the land of our ancestors in Judea and Samaria,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a post on 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 disputed,” he said.
The United Nations had in 2022 requested the ICJ to opine on the legal consequences arising from the “ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.”
As the main judicial body of the United Nations, ICJ is sometimes referred to as the ‘World Court.’
Israel captured the Gaza Strip from Egyptian control and the West Bank from Jordanian control in the Middle East war in 1967. East Jerusalem was also seized from Jordan at the time and has since been considered occupied territory by Palestinians and much of the international community.
Israeli “policies and practices are designed to maintain in place indefinitely and to create irreversible effects on the ground. Consequently, the court considered that these policies and practices amount to annexation of large parts of the occupied Palestinian territory,” according to the tribunal’s advisory opinion.
It said the state of Israel has the obligation to “make reparation for the damage caused to all” persons concerned in the occupied Palestinian territory. It also opined that Israel should “cease immediately all new settlement activities” and evacuate all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territory.
The court on Friday said that it was of the view that the policies and practices contemplated by UN’s general assembly’s request do not include conduct by Israel in Gaza in response to the attack on October 7.
The ICJ in May had ordered Israel to immediately halt its military operations in the Rafah region of the Gaza Strip and told Israel it must open the Rafah border crossing for humanitarian assistance. South Africa has called upon the court to order Israel to end its war on Hamas in Gaza and rule that its actions constitute genocide.
In May, the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor said he’s seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on war crimes charges. A panel of ICC judges will consider whether to accept the prosecutor’s application.
--With assistance from Marissa Newman.
(Updates with Israeli Prime Minister’s comment in eighth paragraph, details in the thirteenth paragraph)
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