THE HAGUE
\nThe UN\u2019s top court on Friday ruled that Israel\u2019s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory was \u201cillegal\u201d and needed to end as soon as possible.
\nThe finding by The Hague-based International Court of Justice was immediately welcomed by the Palestinian leadership which called it \u201chistoric\u201d, but slammed as a \u201cdecision of lies\u201d by Israel.
\nThe ICJ\u2019s statement, called an \u201cadvisory opinion\u201d, is not binding, but it comes amid mounting concern over the death toll and destruction in Israel\u2019s war against Hamas sparked by the group\u2019s Oct 7 attack. It comes in response to a UN General Assembly query in 2022 regarding the legal consequences of Israel\u2019s \u201cprolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967\u201d.
\nThe ICJ\u2019s finding is also likely to increase diplomatic pressure on Israel, whose lawmakers voted on Thursday to oppose a Palestinian state, calling it an \u201cexistential threat\u201d.
\nIn The Hague, ICJ presiding judge Nawaf Salam said: \u201cThe court has found that Israel\u2019s continued presence in the Palestinian Territories is illegal.\u201d
\nIsrael is \u201cunder the obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence as rapidly as possible,\u201d the judge said at the Peace Palace, seat of the ICJ.
\nThe ICJ added that Israel was \u201cunder an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers\u201d from occupied land.
\nIsrael\u2019s policies and practices, including the building of new settlements and Israel\u2019s continued maintenance of a wall between the territories, \u201camount to annexation of large parts\u201d of the occupied territory, the court said.
\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the ICJ\u2019s opinion as a \u201cdecision of lies.\u201d
\n\u201cThe Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land \u2014 not in our eternal capital Jerusalem, nor in our ancestral heritage of Judea and Samaria\u201d (the occupied West Bank), Netanyahu said in a statement.
\n\u201cNo decision of lies in The Hague will distort this historical truth, and similarly, the legality of Israeli settlements in all parts of our homeland cannot be disputed.\u201d
\nPalestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki called the ICJ\u2019s ruling a \u201cwatershed moment\u201d.
\n\u201cThe Palestinian people have endured unbearable suffering and injustice for decades,\u201d Al-Maliki told reporters outside the courtroom.
\nA separate, high-profile case that South Africa brought before the court says Israel has committed genocidal acts during its Gaza offensive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE HAGUE The UN\u2019s top court on Friday ruled that Israel\u2019s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory was \u201cillegal\u201d and needed to end as soon as possible. The finding by The Hague-based International Court of Justice was immediately welcomed by the Palestinian leadership which called it \u201chistoric\u201d, but slammed as a \u201cdecision of lies\u201d by Israel. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-419619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n