The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) is unlawful and should come to an end “as rapidly as possible”. The OPT includes the West Bank, illegally-annexed East Jerusalem and Gaza.
The court considered and analysed a plethora of Israeli policies related to the occupation, all of which, it said violated international law. The ICJ opinion:
- insists that Palestinians have the right of self-determination
- supports the definition of Israel as an apartheid regime, purposefully establishing domination over Palestinians and oppressing them on the basis of race.
- pulls the rug from under the argument constantly advanced that the OPT are “disputed” territories.
- calls for an end to the “occupation”, which amounts to unlawful annexation
- and calls for reparations to compensate for the massive damage done to Palestinians by the unlawful occupation.
