UN seeks ICJ opinion on Israel’s illegal occupation

• UNGA has asked the ICJ to rule on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land.
• The ICJ lacks the authority to do so, but its decisions are enforceable.
• The ICJ will probe Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has been requested by the United Nations General Assembly to issue a ruling on the legal ramifications of Israel’s illegitimate occupation of Palestinian lands.

The resolution was passed by the General Assembly 87 to 26 with 53 abstentions. Western nations were divided, but the Islamic world, including Arab governments that have normalized relations with Israel, overwhelmingly supported it.

China and Russia cast votes in favor of the measure.

France was one of the 53 countries that abstained, along with Israel, the US, and 24 other members, including the United Kingdom and Germany.

The highest UN tribunal handling disputes between states is the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has its headquarters in Hague and is frequently referred to as the World Court. Although the ICJ lacks the authority to do so, its decisions are enforceable.

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The vote of the #UNGA and the support of 87 countries requesting a legal advisory opinion from the #ICJ on the nature of occupation in the occupied #Palestinian territories reflects the victory of Palestinian diplomacy, led by the President, https://t.co/PrxtrT8BIN

— حسين الشيخ Hussein AlSheikh (@HusseinSheikhpl) December 31, 2022

Palestinian leaders on Saturday welcomed the vote, with senior official Hussein al-Sheikh saying it “reflects the victory of Palestinian diplomacy”.

“The time has come for Israel to be a state subject to law, and to be held accountable for its ongoing crimes against our people,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestine’s UN ambassador Riyad Mansour noted that the vote came one day after the swearing-in of a new far-right Israeli government, which he said promises an expansion of illegal Jewish settlements and will accelerate “colonial and racist policies” towards Palestinians.

He also hailed nations that voted in favor of the resolution and were “undeterred by threats and pressure”.

The UN General Assembly asked the ICJ to give an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s “occupation, settlement and annexation … including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures”.

The UN resolution also asks the ICJ to advise on how those policies and practices “affect the legal status of the occupation” and what legal consequences arise for all countries and the UN from this status.

Along with budget, #UNGA gives go-ahead to International Court of Justice to investigate legality of Israel’s ongoing #occupation of Palestinian Territories, noting it’s been 55 years under military rule for generations of Palestinians who lack basic human rights

— Kristen Saloomey (@KSaloomey) December 30, 2022

“No international body can decide that the Jewish people are ‘occupiers’ in their own homeland. Any decision from a judicial body which receives its mandate from the morally bankrupt and politicized UN is completely illegitimate,” Israel’s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, said in a statement ahead of the vote.

Israel captured all of historic Palestine during the war of June 1967, driving 300,000 Palestinians from their homes. Israel also took control of the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula in the south and the Syrian Golan Heights in the north.

Israel left Egyptian territory after Egypt and Israel reached a peace agreement in 1978.

Since 1967, Israeli forces have ruled over the occupied Palestinian territory. The longest occupation in modern history as a result. Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem are among the territories that have been divided.

“We do not feel that a referral to the International Court of Justice is helpful in bringing the parties back to dialogue,” UK diplomat Thomas Phipps said of the UN vote.

“It is also the position of the UK that it is inappropriate without the consent of both parties to ask the court to give an advisory opinion in what is essentially a bilateral dispute.”

Among Western nations that backed the resolution was Portugal, whose representative acknowledged the “risk of overjudicialising international relations” but said the world court “underpins the international rules-based order which we seek to preserve”.

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