International Occupation illegal - UN court discredits Israel
A legal opinion from the highest UN court is causing additional problems with unforeseeable consequences for the state of Israel, which is involved in armed conflicts on several fronts.
20.07.2024, 04:37
SDA
The occupation of the Palestinian territories is illegal and must be ended as soon as possible, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague has ruled.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres wants to forward the opinion immediately to the UN General Assembly, which must then decide on further action, said one of his spokespersons in New York.
Israel conquered and occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. The Palestinians claim these territories for their own state, which was to be established alongside Israel and which most countries in the world, including Germany, still support today. Israel left Gaza again in 2005, but continues to control the borders on land, water and in the air.
Expert opinion: Israel should end occupation as soon as possible
"The continued presence of the State of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful," said Court President Nawaf Salam. "The State of Israel has an obligation to end its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territories as soon as possible," reads a summary of the legally non-binding legal opinion published by the court on Friday.
Furthermore, Israel is obliged to immediately stop new settler activities in the Palestinian territories and to remove the approximately 700,000 settlers from the territories. The states of the world must not support any actions that contribute to the maintenance of Israel's "illegal presence" in the occupied territories or support settler activities.
Netanyahu speaks of "wrong decision", Abbas of "triumph of justice"
Israel reacted indignantly to the report: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on X: "The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land. No wrong decision in The Hague will falsify the historical truth, just as the legality of Israeli settlements throughout our homeland cannot be challenged."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, on the other hand, welcomed the expert opinion. This was "a triumph of justice, a confirmation that the Israeli occupation is illegal". Abbas called on the international community to "force Israel, the occupying power, to end its occupation and its colonial project completely and immediately, without conditions or exceptions". This was announced by the presidential office in Ramallah. The Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip praised the document, which "exposed the fascist system of settlement construction".
De facto annexation of further territories completed
The report points out that Israel has de facto annexed further territories through the construction of settlements and various administrative acts. It also addresses the discriminatory and degrading consequences of the occupation for the Palestinian population. Violence by settlers against Palestinian citizens is not prosecuted or punished by Israel. Palestinians are forced to leave the land they cultivate. They are also denied access to water.
The document sees violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention against Racism in the numerous restrictions on the civil rights of Palestinians in the occupied territories and in their unequal treatment compared to Jewish settlers.
The report could be highly explosive.
Although it is not legally binding, the legal opinion is potentially highly explosive. This is because international pressure on Israel to end the attacks in the Gaza Strip is expected to increase further. The opinion is also likely to fuel the pro-Palestinian protest movement worldwide.
The legally non-binding opinions of the ICJ would be perceived as "extremely valid representations of international law as it is", said law professor Eliav Leiblich from Tel Aviv University to the US television station CNN. Civilian organizations could, for example, take the matter to national courts and demand that they prohibit the export of weapons that could be used in the occupied territories.
Drone attack out of nowhere
Meanwhile, Israel is dismayed that a combat drone launched by the Houthi militias in Yemen was able to reach the coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv undetected. The explosives-laden projectile exploded on Friday night not far from the densely built-up Mediterranean shore, killing a 50-year-old man in his home. Ten other people were injured, according to rescue services. The Huthi militia in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack.
The projectile hit not far from the Tel Aviv branch of the US embassy. The US embassy has been located in Jerusalem since 2018. The Israeli military assumes that the Tel Aviv embassy building was not targeted, but that the drone flew over it by chance.
Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the flying weapon was an Iranian Samad-3 drone that had been modified for long flight distances. According to Israeli estimates, it flew about 2000 kilometers, crossed the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula from the Red Sea and veered over the Mediterranean on a course towards Tel Aviv.
Residents in the city heard a loud bang shortly after 3.00 a.m. (local time) and shortly afterwards the sirens of rescue vehicles. The usual air alarm did not sound. The army spoke of human error. According to media reports, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, called on the UN Security Council to condemn the Houthi attack and take action before the situation in the region escalates further.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war last October, the Huthi, who are supported and armed by Iran, have repeatedly attacked shipping in the Red Sea. They have also occasionally fired rockets at southern Israel, but so far these have always been intercepted or have fallen over open ground.
Exchange of blows in the north
The Shiite militia Hezbollah intensified its shelling of areas in northern Israel. The army announced on its Telegram channel that it had identified 65 shells entering Israeli territory from Lebanon. Some of the projectiles were intercepted by Israeli air defenses, while the rest hit uninhabited areas. No people were reportedly injured or killed. In return, the army attacked Hezbollah's launching pads and weapons depots in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah confirmed its attacks and described them as retaliation for Israeli bombardments the previous day, in which two senior fighters were killed in the eastern Bekaa Valley and in southern Lebanon - a Hezbollah man and a cadre of the Palestinian Hamas, which is allied with Hezbollah and is active in Lebanon.
Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia have been fighting almost daily since the start of the Gaza war. There have been casualties on both sides. Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran, says it is acting in solidarity with Hamas, which is also active in Lebanon. There have long been fears that the conflict could spread regionally.
