LALIT salutes Damning Judgment against Israel for Illegal Occupation for 57 years
20.07.2024
The International Court of Justice at The Hague earlier today handed down a vastly majority set of judgments condemning the state of Israel for its illegal occupation of Palestine, and this for 57 years. The impunity of Israel, as it proceeds with a genocide, is at last beginning to end. Its crimes are being exposed, one by one. LALIT members watched and listened live to the judgment, and we could not have hoped for a more categorical judgment.
After a two-and-half-hour meticulously argued denunciation of 57 years of unlawful and illegal acts by the State of Israel, read out by ICJ President Salam, the 15 judges decided, by an overwhelming majority, on the following actions based on even more decisions in the text of the judgment. One by one, we list the actions decided upon in the judgment, one by one:
1. The ICJ has jurisdiction – unanimous. That means all the judges agreed that this UN Court has the right to give the definition of international law on the question of the Israeli occupation of Palestine since 1967. If you agree on jurisdiction, you generally have a moral obligations to comply. This was unanimously decided.
2. The ICJ decides to hand down its Advisory Opinion as requested by the UN General Assembly. (14 votes to 1 – Against Vice-President, the Ugandan Judge Sebutinde. Remember she was the one who voted against the anti-genocide preliminary measures in the other case at the ICJ, and who the Ugandan Government distanced itself from. )
(3) The ICJ believes that the State of Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful (11 in favour, 4 against). LALIT applauds this decision. We have maintained this for the entire time of our existence.
(4) The ICJ says it is of the opinion that the State of Israel is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible (11 in favour, 4 against).
(5) The ICJ hands down the Opinion that the State of Israel is under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities, and to evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory (14 to 1 – note only the same one judge is against this important statement, which implies, it must be said, that past settlements, too, are illegal).
(6) The ICJ says the State of Israel has the obligation to make reparation for the damage caused to all the natural or legal persons concerned in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (14 to 1 – only one against this decision in favour of reparations.)
(7) The ICJ believes that all States are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the continued presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (12 to 3). LALIT adds that this means the arming of Israel, trade with Israel and diplomatic relations with Israel are all unlawful in that they maintain the situation. The USA, Germany and Britain, inter alia, are warned. The people of theses countries will now have to enforce this decision.
(8) The ICJ is of the opinion that international organizations, including the United Nations, are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (12 to 3). LALIT adds that this will mean the isolation of Israel from the UN Security Council, the General Assembly, and all other UN bodies.
(9) The ICJ says that the United Nations, and especially the General Assembly, which requested this opinion, and the Security Council, should consider the precise modalities and further action required to bring to an end as rapidly as possible the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. (12 to 3)
During the reading of the judgment, before these actions were enumerated, other important matters were decided. The three parts of Palestine, i.e. the West Bank and East Jerusalem as well as Gaza, are legally part of the same entity. This means that Gaza, too, is, as part of Palestine under occupation, a point argued on facts, at well, during the judgment. The illegal Israeli occupation regime was denounced for having annexed illegally parts of Palestine, of having stolen the resources of the people like water resources, of practicing Apartheid and racial discrimination, of preventing self-determination.
This article represents LALIT’s initial reaction.
It is to the credit of the Mauritian State, including past and present Governments, that Mauritius has always stood by the Palestinians – if too weakly, very often. In this particular case, the MSM government actually sent a team to the hearings in The Hague, who argued the Palestinian case.
We remind readers, that LALIT called for the Government to do this. We based our calls for the Mauritian State to take the Diego Garcia and Chagos issue to the ICJ, partly after 2004, on the decision of the ICJ that the Israeli Apartheid Wall in Palestine was illegal. After Mauritius won its case at the Hague in 2019, we then co-operated with colleagues in Palestine to put pressure on the Palestinian Authority to put in a case on illegal occupation, based in part on the decision in the case of Mauritius. And so international co-ordination at the grassroots has participated in bringing this victory for the people of Palestine against colonization by Israel and its imperialist allies.
Now we call for the State of Mauritius, which has supported the South African case against Israel for genocide publicly, to go ahead and actually join the case.
LALIT.
PS 20 July 2024 Copy of International Court of Justice (ICJ) Judgments Condemning the State of Israel for its 57-year illegal occupation of Palestine uploaded on LALIT website in the 'Documents' section.
