ICJ calls on Israel to evacuate settlers from Palestine, dismantle the wall and return land

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on Friday that Israel’s settlement policies “violate international law” and that its “continued presence” in Palestine is “illegal,” demanding the “evacuation of all settlers,” the “dismantling” of the separation wall and the return of land to its original residents displaced since 1967.

The ICJ found that Israeli settlements and their associated regime in the West Bank and East Jerusalem were “established and maintained in violation of international law”and Israel’s “continued presence” in the Palestinian territories (including the Gaza Strip) is “illegal” and must come to an end “as quickly as possible,” said presiding judge Nawaf Salam, who read out the conclusions of a majority of the 15 judges who make up the ICJ.

The UN’s highest judicial body issued its advisory opinion at the request of the UN General Assembly in December 2022 on the legal consequences of Israeli occupation practices and policies in the occupied Palestinian territories, after the ICJ declared itself competent to rule on the matter, against the wishes of Israel and other allied countries.

The court warned Israel that it must “repeal all laws and measures that create or maintain the illegal situation, including those that discriminate against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, as well as all measures aimed at changing the demographic composition of any part of the Territory.”

The ICJ believes that Israel has an obligation to “provide full reparation for the damage caused by its internationally wrongful acts to all natural or legal persons affected,” which includes the “restitution, compensation and/or satisfaction” of those affectedthat is, “returning land and other immovable property” as well as “all cultural property and assets taken from Palestinians and Palestinian institutions, including archives and documents” seized since the occupation began in 1967.

Furthermore, the reparation “also requires the evacuation of all settlers from existing settlements” and “the dismantling of the parts of the wall built by Israel that are located in the occupied Palestinian territory, as well as allowing all Palestinians displaced during the occupation to return to their original place of residence.”

The ICJ regretted that Israel’s policies and practices “induce the exodus of the Palestinian population from parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in particular from East Jerusalem and Area C of the West Bank,” which “allows for the further expansion of Israel’s settlement policy and the integration of the Palestinian territory into Israel.”

“All States (and international organizations, including the UN) have the obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the illegal presence of the State of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories. and of failing to provide aid or assistance to maintain the situation created by the continued presence of the State of Israel” in Palestine, the court added.

He added that the UN and the Security Council “must consider the precise modalities and further actions necessary to bring to an end as quickly as possible the illegal presence of the State of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

The ICJ thus answered two questions posed by the UN General Assembly in a case prior to the current Israeli war in the Gaza Strip.

The first: “What are the legal consequences arising from Israel’s continued violation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967, including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalemand its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures?”

He further asked: “How do the above-mentioned Israeli policies and practices (…) affect the legal status of the occupation, and what are the legal consequences that arise for all States and the United Nations from this status?”

The ICJ stressed that, “by virtue of its status as an occupying power,” a State assumes a “set of powers and duties” with respect to the territory over which it exercises effective control, but reminded Israel “that occupation is a temporary situation to respond to a military necessity, and it cannot transfer title to sovereignty to the occupying power.”