ICJ says Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal

Israel's settlement policies on Palestinian territories violate international law, the International Court of Justice in The Hague said on Friday.

The ICJ, or World Court, announced the finding in a non-binding advisory opinion on Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The top United Nations court said Israel's "unlawful policies and practices" in those regions were "in breach of the Israeli government's obligation to respect the right of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination" and that Israel should end its presence in occupied Palestinian territories as rapidly as possible as it considered it "illegal."

WATCH | Palestinians in Gaza react to latest ICJ findings on settlements:

Palestinians in Gaza react to latest ICJ findings on settlements

11 hours ago

Duration 1:26

Palestinians in Gaza say they've heard these decisions before but hope this time, there will be action to back up what the international court is saying about Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the findings in a post to X. He called The Hague's opinion "absurd" and claimed the court could not deny the "legal rights" of Israelis to live in their "ancestral home." Finally, he said Jewish people were not "occupiers in their own land," referring to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

The advisory opinion related to the legality of Israel's 57-year occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state. Although not legally binding, it could have more effect on other countries' opinions and bring about possible sanctions.

On the ground in the southern Gaza Strip, reaction to the news was cautious by most. Speaking to CBC freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife, Osama Ashour — currently living in Khan Younis — said he has heard legal opinions like this since 1948 but never saw actions to back them up.

"It needs a strong hand to do justice to the world and give everyone their rights," he said. "And to solve our Palestinian cause and bring us back to our homes."

The 58-year-old said implementation of these findings is just as important as the court issuing them. "Return our dignity … there should be no decisions without actions," he said.

Down the road, Mohamed Sobh told El Saife that he was seeing a change in international opinions about the Palestinian cause, but questions whether Israel will abide by the ICJ opinion or not.

Helping to shape policies in other countries

Philippe Sands, a member of the Palestinian legal team, told CBC's As it Happens that the ruling leaves no ambiguity.

"Israel's occupation is illegal. It must end. There must be restitution. There must be reparation," he said.

Human Rights Watch wrote earlier this month that Israeli forces have killed more than 530 Palestinians in the West Bank since Oct. 7, and that settlers and soldiers have displaced entire Palestinian communities "with the apparent backing of higher Israeli authorities."

Sands says Netanyahu's response to the ICJ ruling indicates the Israeli government has essentially gone rogue and "committed to a world of utter lawlessness."

"That's tragic for Israel, which has a right to exist in secure borders, but it poses the most fundamental difficulty for its allies and friends," he said. "How do you offer support to a country that has such a reaction to a clear expression of the law? That's the challenge that lies ahead."

LISTEN | A Palestinian legal representative discusses the ICJ ruling on settlements:

As It Happens8:56ICJ ruling ‘leaves no ambiguity’ about Israeli occupation, says Palestinian legal representative

Israel's settlement policies on Palestinian territories violate international law, the International Court of Justice in The Hague said Friday. Israel has already made clear it will ignore the non-binding legal opinion. But Philippe Sands, a lawyer representing the Palestinians at the ICJ, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal it could still have a significant practical impact — especially if the international community takes heed.

Rex Brynen, chair of the Middle East Studies program at McGill University in Montreal, said although the advisory opinion is not legally binding, it does lay the groundwork for how international law sees this issue, and it can sway countries to change their stances.

"It puts pressure on countries like Canada to bring our own policies more in compliance with international law," he said in an interview with CBC News.

"But a really interesting issue is going to be what Canada does about this, because we like to claim we're in favour of a rules-based international system."

In the past, Canada refused to vote against UN resolutions on settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem under the Stephen Harper government. But in 2019, under Justin Trudeau, the country reversed its stance and voted against Israel at the United Nations.

But Brynen says time will tell on how far Canada will go to support the ICJ on the Palestinian territories.

"I suspect we may twist ourselves into a bit of a pretzel on that one to avoid fully endorsing it, but we'll have to see," he said.

Erwin van Veen, a senior research fellow at the Clingendael think-tank in The Hague, told Reuters Friday's finding would "worsen the case for occupation and removes any kind of legal, political, philosophical underpinning of the Israeli expansion project."

He also suggested that it could make the case for more countries to recognize a state of Palestine, particularly in the Western world.

In a post to Telegram, Hamas said they welcomed the ICJ's advisory opinion, which they said "pointed out widespread violations of international law." The militant group called on the United Nations and UN Security Council to "end the occupation" and work on pushing Israel to "implement and comply with [the findings] immediately."

Israel and multiple other countries, including the U.K., have rejected the court's capacity to issue an advisory opinion on the case previously.

The ICJ opinion comes on the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, which is now stretching into its tenth month following the Oct. 7 attacks led by Hamas that saw 1,200 killed and 250 hostages taken into Gaza, according to Israeli officials. The responding air and land incursion in Gaza has resulted in about 38,000 deaths, according to health officials in the territory.