ICJ ruling on Israeli occupation is a ‘victory for justice’, but its implementation depends on UN and US

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Mohammad Larbi Bughra

“Ultimately, Israel’s glorious victory in the Six-Day War could lead to the end of the Jewish state.” Isaac Deutscher (New York Times, July 17, 2024, citing a Polish Jewish historian’s statement after June 10, 1967).

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) President, Lebanese Judge Nawaf Salam, read out the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday in The Hague. The report states that Israel’s settlements in the West Bank violate the principles of international law and that Israel must end their presence.

The ICJ advisory opinion shatters the lie that the occupation is temporary and for security purposes only. This is the lie that the Israelis have told themselves during decades of occupation, seizing more and more Palestinian land, dispossessing Palestinians and building settlements, all under the auspices of successive Israeli governments, through settlers and with the support of the occupying army and Israeli “justice”. The ICJ opinion punctures the bubble of this lie, holding that the various actions of the Israeli government are annexation of territory, prohibited by the Geneva Conventions.

Israel’s working assumption – that the world will continue to ignore the Israeli occupation – has been shattered in recent months. “If Israel continues to ignore what the world tells it, it may wake up to the reality that it is boycotted and excluded, just as it was in apartheid-era South Africa. » Haaretz editorial author writes (July 20, 2024)

Shadow and Light

Despite the relief the court’s decision brought to Palestinians, they did not express overwhelming joy. How could they? Joy was certainly not an option in the West Bank, which was suffering day and night from settler attacks and deadly army incursions, and in the Gaza Strip, which was ravaged and bloodied by the occupation forces, and where polio and cholera cast a sinister shadow over its thirsty residents.

The Palestinians and their leaders have become accustomed to these decisions and legal opinions, whether they come from the General Assembly, the Security Council or any other organization. “Given that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has produced so many declarative decisions in favor of the Palestinians, you can bet it’s already set a Guinness World Record.” (Haaretz, July 21, 2024). Take, for example: The court’s ruling twenty years ago on the West Bank separation wall has not changed the situation on the ground, and the wall continues to torture Palestinians going to the fields, to school or to work.

In fact, what matters is the effective implementation of these decisions on the ground, as does the recent decision of the International Court of Justice, which was also made in an atmosphere of drama and disillusionment among the Palestinian people, their elites and leaders. This implementation is necessary, otherwise we will still have the famous and unfair principle of “double standards”, as if international law and the decisions of the international community apply only to certain countries and are ignored for others.

Israel, for its part, completely rejects the ICJ’s opinion. Zionist political factions are united in their opposition to Gans and Lapid. It is enough to refer to the declaratory decision approved by the Knesset last week: prohibiting the recognition of the Palestinian state, a decision that was supported by the majority of legislators (only 9 votes against out of 120 members).

In the current political climate in Israel – a climate dominated by the fanatical and supremacist religious Zionist ministers Ben Gvir and Smotrich – which demand the annexation of the West Bank and the expansion of the settlement enterprise on Palestinian territories, the Court’s ruling is not aimed so much at Israel as at the international bodies that should implement its findings: the UN General Assembly, the Security Council, and any state that respects the principles of international law and the consultative status of the world’s highest court, including states that have recently normalized relations with the Zionist state.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the court’s ruling, saying it “Victory of justice”Abbas urged the international community to “Demands that Israel, the occupying Power, end its occupation and withdraw its troops unconditionally.”

Abbas barely talks to Israel, and at least half of the ministers in Netanyahu’s government consider him Israeli. “Sponsors of terrorism” and doing everything they can to undermine the Palestinian Authority by refusing to pay its fair share of royalties: a decision made by Finance Minister Smotrich, himself a settler and religious Zionist.

As expected, all components of the Palestinian leadership, from human rights organizations to Hamas, reiterated their call for the implementation of the ICJ’s findings and for effective sanctions against companies and countries that continue to collaborate with the Israeli occupation. Above all, they demanded a concrete timetable for these actions so that they would not be postponed indefinitely. (Haaretz, July 21).

The Palestinians understand that if there is still a small chance of progress, it must happen in the coming months. Before the impact of the Gaza war on the international community subsided.We must act quickly because the possible entry of Donald Trump into the White House would mean a first-rate funeral for the principles of international law.

Until November, during the September UN General Assembly, the Palestinians may still have a chance to push for some measures that would somewhat undermine Israel’s arrogance, especially if some elements in the Israeli political camp opposed to Netanyahu would be ready to consider a political solution.

Legal battle tremors

Nomi Bar-Yaacov, an international lawyer and expert on Middle Eastern politics at Chatham House in London, calls this view ‘Legal earthquake’ And said it was the strongest opinion the court had ever issued.

“This shows that the occupation has lasted too long and that the parties and the international community have not done enough to resolve the issue.””, she said (The New York Times, July 19).

Other analysts said it was unlikely that some foreign governments would ignore the advice.

“This could affect the foreign policy of some European countries,” said Yuval Shani, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, noting that Norway, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia have joined 140 other countries in recent weeks in recognizing the state of Palestine.

Dark days await Israel and its citizens around the world: long before the ICJ issued its opinion, a hotelier in Kyoto, Japan, another in Paris’ Porte de Versailles, and a Greek shipping company refused to accommodate Israeli clients because of the carnage in Gaza. French NGOs asked the IOC not to allow Israeli athletes to compete in Paris. The Gaza effect plays a major role in the minds of people around the world.

The ICJ’s opinion will only reinforce this. The opinion of the highest UN body will be hard to ignore!

Mohammad Larbi Bughra

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