Israel Braces for ICJ Advisory Opinion on “Prolonged Occupation”

July 18, 2024

by: Ilse Strauss

Thursday, 18 July 2024 | At 3:00 p.m. local time tomorrow, Justice Nawaf Salam, the former Lebanese diplomat who presides over the International Court of Justice [ICJ], will take to the podium in the Hague to deliver the world court’s ruling on whether it regards Israel’s military and civilian presence in eastern Jerusalem as well as Judea and Samaria as illegal “occupation” under international law.

Experts warn that Israel should “prepare for the worst.”

According to Andrew Tucker, director-general of the Hague Initiative for International Cooperation (thinc.), a global network of international law academics, practitioners and experts that advocates for the fair interpretation and application of international law for peace and security between the Jewish state and her neighbors, Israel’s legitimacy is consistently under attack, with Jerusalem’s adversaries often wielding the misuse of international law as a weapon of choice. However, tomorrow’s ruling could very well prove the pinnacle of abuse, Tucker warns.

Tomorrow’s verdict, he says, is expected to see the court acceding to the Palestinian demand to rule as illegal the so-called Israeli occupation of eastern Jerusalem as well as Judea and Samaria—also known as the biblical heartland. The court is also likely to demand an immediate end to the alleged occupation and a swift removal of all Jewish communities from the area.

The verdict constitutes an advisory opinion, Tucker concedes, thus not binding or enforceable. Regardless, the impact will be devastating. Israel fears that it could trigger a wave of sanctions against Jerusalem and prompt governments to cut ties with the Jewish state under the pretense of doing the right thing. It will also fuel the fires of anti-Semitism, lend a sense of legitimacy to the widespread anti-Israel sentiment sweeping the globe, serve as the proverbial rubberstamp for crowds chanting “From the River to the Sea” and incentivize violence against Jewish people. Moreover, the ruling can also prompt the ICJ to call on the International Criminal Court to initiate criminal proceedings against individual senior Israeli officials in charge of administering Judea and Samaria.

Yet Israel and the Jewish people are not the only parties standing to lose. Ultimately, says Tucker, a verdict of “illegal” tomorrow will undermine the ICJ’s own legitimacy, tarnishing the purpose for which the court was instituted.

Tomorrow’s ruling has been a long time coming. In December 2022, the United Nations (UN) issued Resolution 77/247, requesting the ICJ to clarify the legality of Israel’s “occupation, settlement, and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.”

According to Tucker, the ICJ was presented with a one-sided narrative that ignores the complexities of the complexity of the conflict and misrepresent the legal, historical and political context. “For example, the historical connection of the Jewish people with the land are totally ignored, as are the strong legal claims that Israel had to sovereignty over the ‘occupied territories’ prior to regaining them from Jordan and Egypt in 1967.”

Tucker warns that tomorrow’s ruling could circumvent the current internationally sanctioned and legally binding framework for resolving the Israel–Palestine conflict. “All Security Council resolutions on this topic, as well as the Oslo Accords that are still binding, require a negotiated solution to the conflict. An Advisory Opinion declaring, for example, that the Palestinians have sovereign rights to the ‘occupied territory’, or that Israel must withdraw unconditionally, would totally undermine Israel’s legal and security rights in such negotiations,” he explained.

The approach boils down to the Palestinians “mobilizing anti-Western and particularly anti-Israeli UN member states to undermine Israel’s security and achieve international recognition of an independent Palestinian state on the strategically sensitive territory of the West Bank [Judea and Samaria] and the old city of Jerusalem and its environs,” Tucker said. “Such a state would aim at nothing less than the eradication of the State of Israel. That is unacceptable, and UN member states have a duty to ensure this does not happen.”

Earlier this month, thinc. hosted a summit in the Hague aimed at unpacking the consequences of tomorrow’s ruling. Nearly a thousand Christians from 45 nations attended to show their support for the Jewish people’s biblical connection to the Land.

The attendees—including Bridges for Peace International CEO Rev. Peter J. Fast—drafted a direct appeal to the ICJ, which the court registrar hand-delivered to each of the 15 justices.

A portion of the decree reads, “We, Christian representatives of our nations from all over the world, declare and testify that the Land of Israel includes East Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. These areas belong indisputably to Israel and are ultimately the inheritance of the Jewish people. Dividing the Land is in conflict with the Bible and the will of the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Israel.”

As the clock ticks to 3:00 p.m. tomorrow, we call on all Christians around the world to cover Israel and her people in prayer.

Posted on July 18, 2024

Source: (Bridges for Peace, July 18, 2024)

Photo Credit: thetrial2024.org

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