Citizens must give effect to international law if Israel won’t

It is indeed a terrible thing to witness the powerlessness of international organizations like the International Court of Justice whose decisions over Israel have been swept under the carpet never to be implemented. All the reports and damning evidence gathered by the ICJ that show the illegality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the restrictions to freedom of movement of Palestinians in addition to the forced evacuations and demolition of Palestinian homes by Israel have not moved the US into curtailing it’s assistance to Israel.

Below is an article by Dr Reneva Fourie who is a human rights activist and policy analyst specialising in governance, development and security

Citizens must give effect to international law if Israel won’t

Part I

Our hearts bleed for Palestine. The despair becomes overwhelming when generation after generation is subjected to systematic dispossession, segregation, discrimination and deprivation. Hope is abandoned when peaceful protests are rendered futile, yet militant defence of justice is decried. Frustration mounts when the oppressor is heartless and brutally bombards infants, the infirm and the elderly, while mocking the destruction and trauma left behind. Surely the world should stand up and shout, ‘Enough!’ Much of it is doing so. Israel has never been more isolated.

Peace-loving people across the world watched with abhorrence the live broadcasts of the post-October 7 Israeli massacres of people in Gaza and the detentions and killings in the West Bank. Worldwide, campuses were enlivened as students protested against Israel’s atrocities and their governments’ silence or complicity. Tens of thousands filled streets in the global South and North, condemning the horror and demanding that Palestine be free from the river to the sea. And international bodies tasked with upholding the rule of law finally voiced their opposition to the actions of those formerly regarded as sacrosanct.

Astoundingly, the International Court of Justice, on 19 July, issued a groundbreaking advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. The advisory opinion was in response to the questions posed by the General Assembly on 30 December 2022 on the legal consequences of Israel’s various forms of violation of the rights of the Palestinian people, as well as the legal implications for third-party complicity.

The advisory opinion unequivocally establishes the illegality of Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and emphasises the urgent necessity of its withdrawal. This withdrawal should encompass the cessation of settlement expansion and the relocation of all settlers from the area. Moreover, it necessitates the provision of reparations for those adversely affected by the forced removals. Additionally, the report underscores the obligation of all countries and international entities to refrain from recognising Israel’s unlawful presence in the OPT. It calls upon the United Nations to promptly take action to terminate this illegal occupation.

Having the ICJ formally affirm that which most of the world knows has immense impact on Israel’s moral and legal standing in the world. Even those who wish to turn a blind eye can no longer deny Israel’s deprivation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and its discriminatory practices against them. The advisory opinion, therefore, gives impetus to the 26 January ruling by the court that there was a plausible risk that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza in violation of the Genocide Convention.

Reem Haddad