The Court docket is responding to a request from the Normal Meeting for an advisory opinion on: Authorized penalties of Israeli insurance policies and practices within the Occupied Palestinian Territory, together with East Jerusalem.
The advisory opinions of the Worldwide Court docket of Justice are authorized opinions offered by the court docket on problems with worldwide legislation.
In contrast to judgments in circumstances of inter-state disputes, advisory opinions are non-binding and are solicited by UN our bodies such because the Normal Meeting or the Safety Council.
Though advisory opinions should not legally binding, they’ll affect worldwide insurance policies, enhance ethical stress, and trigger particular person international locations to undertake unilateral measures resembling sanctions.
Israel’s obligations
In its advisory opinion, the Worldwide Court docket of Justice concluded that Israel’s continued presence within the occupied Palestinian territories is illegitimate and that it’s obliged to finish its unlawful presence “as quickly as potential”.
The opinion goes on to state that Israel additionally has an “obligation to right away stop all new settlement actions and evacuate all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territory” and “compensate for injury triggered to all related pure or authorized individuals.”
obligations of states
It additional said that “all states have an obligation to not acknowledge as respectable the state of affairs created by Israel’s unlawful presence”.
States are additionally obliged “to not present assist or help to take care of the state of affairs created by the continued presence of the State of Israel within the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.
Obligations of worldwide organizations
Concerning worldwide organizations, together with the United Nations, the court docket famous that Israel “is obliged to not acknowledge as respectable a state of affairs arising from its unlawful presence”.
The ICJ additional said that the United Nations, specifically the Normal Meeting and the Safety Council, “ought to think about the exact modalities and additional actions required to finish as quickly as potential the unlawful presence of the State of Israel within the Occupied Palestinian Territory. ”
name for participation
After the opinion was issued, United Nations Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres as soon as once more known as on all events to return to the “long-delayed political path” to finish the occupation and resolve the battle in accordance with worldwide legislation and related United Nations resolutions and resolutions.
“The one viable path is the imaginative and prescient of two states – Israel and a totally unbiased, democratic, contiguous, viable and sovereign State of Palestine – primarily based on the pre-1967 foundations, in peace and safety inside safe and acknowledged borders. Residing aspect by aspect. Jerusalem is the capital of each international locations, his spokesman stated in a press release.
The assertion additionally famous that the UN Secretary-Normal will instantly convey the advisory opinion to the UN Normal Meeting, which has requested the court docket to offer recommendation.
“It’s for the Normal Meeting to determine the best way to deal with this matter,” the assertion added.
Israel’s response
Based on media experiences, Israel’s Overseas Ministry rejected the ICJ’s opinion, calling it “essentially mistaken” and “blatantly one-sided.”
It additionally reiterated its place {that a} political settlement within the area can solely be achieved by “direct negotiations”.
Convention necessities
The Normal Meeting adopted a decision in December 2022, which requested the Worldwide Court docket of Justice to offer an opinion in accordance with Article 96 of the Constitution of the United Nations and Article 65 of the Statute of the Worldwide Court docket of Justice.
The opinion lays out the authorized penalties of Israel’s “continued violations” of the Palestinian folks’s proper to self-determination, together with the long-term occupation, settlement and annexation of territory occupied since 1967, in addition to discriminatory measures, together with these affecting the demographic composition and influence of Jerusalem.
It additionally seeks to grasp how these Israeli insurance policies and practices have an effect on the authorized standing of the occupation and its authorized penalties.
