The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) welcomed the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice of the United Nations in The Hague on Friday, July 19, 2024, based on the request of the United Nations General Assembly in December 2022.
The decision included an accurate legal description of the conditions related to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, the principles that govern it in international law, and at the same time the legal obligations that the occupying state, other states, and global organizations must fulfill to end the occupation and return rights to their owners.
The decision affirmed that the ongoing Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories is illegal. Israel must end the occupation as soon as possible, return the lands it controlled in 1967, and compensate the Palestinians for the damages they suffered as a result of this occupation, especially the looting of natural resources over the years of occupation.
The advisory opinion also referred to the duty to demolish the separation wall in part of the Palestinian territories, stop all new settlement activities, and dismantle and withdraw the settlements.
The court considered that the practices of the Israeli occupation carried a racist character and adopted a method of racial discrimination in managing and sustaining the illegal occupation.
The court also addressed forced displacement and settler violence as violations of international humanitarian law and considered settlement and forced population transfer as actual annexation.
The new opinion of the court came confirming the contents of many international documents related to the Palestinian issue, which Israel has not adhered to, nor has the international community succeeded in compelling it to implement, including the advisory opinion issued by the same court in 2004 regarding the apartheid wall.
ICHR stated in its statement, "We, in the Independent Commission for Human Rights, consider this opinion historical and a legal victory for the Palestinian people who faced injustice. It is a new affirmation from the highest independent judicial body in the international community of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and freedom from occupation."
ICHR called on all relevant states and international organizations to fulfill their obligations and responsibilities outlined in the advisory opinion, regarding the non-recognition of the changes made by the occupation and attempts at annexation, and also to take steps to compel Israel, the occupying power, to fulfill its obligations under international law and end the occupation.
