ICJ ruling against occupation will take years to affect life for Palestinians

Fifty-seven years after Israel captured the West Bank during the Six Day War and embarked on its project of territorial expansion at Palestinian expense, international law appears to have finally caught up with it.

In a major symbolic setback, the International Court of Justice last Friday comprehensively delineated how Israel’s extended occupation of Palestinian territory was illegal and should be ended “as soon as possible”. Israeli rule had become annexation and was thus a violation of the UN charter’s prohibition on acquiring territory by force, the judges ruled.

But Palestinians in the West Bank do not view the advisory ruling as an immediate game-changer that of itself brings an end to land poaching, settlement activity or being pressured to leave parts of their homeland.

It could, however, have a longer-term effect toward dismantling occupation and achieving independence by further turning international opinion against Israeli goals and practices, observers told the Jewish Independent.

“The real issue is whether the world will do something or send the message that now the occupation has to come to an end,” Shawan Jabarin, head of the Ramallah-based Al-Haq human rights organisation told TJI.

“It’s a question of the political will of third-party states and the UN,” he said. But that will still has to be developed, he indicated. Jabarin said he does not expect a surge of tangible international pressure on Israel in the immediate aftermath of the ruling. “I don’t think things will change dramatically at that level, but over time there will be change,” he said.