Israeli settlements in West Bank, East Jerusalem 'obstacle' to peace prospect: Norway to UN court

By Nur Asena Erturk

Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem “constitute a chief obstacle” to any prospect for peace, Norway's delegation at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Friday.

"House evictions, demolitions, force displacement and settler violence against the Palestinian population are aspects of the Israeli occupation," a director general at the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, Kristian Jervell, said during public hearings about Israel's military activities in Palestine.

He said they are against "fundamental human rights, international humanitarian law, and the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people," and undermine a vision for a two-state solution.

Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory are a transfer that alters the demographic composition, said Jervell.

"The establishment of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory represents a transfer over decades of parts of the occupying power's own civilian population into the territory it occupies, in breach of article 49/6 of the 4th Geneva Convention," he said.

The Norwegian representative noted that the UN Security Council has repeatedly condemned "all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the territory occupied since 1962."

- Case brought to ICJ

The public hearings started Monday in the Hague following the UN General Assembly's request for an advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

More than 50 countries are presenting arguments.

South Africa brought a genocide case against Israel to the ICJ in late December and asked it for emergency measures to end the bloodshed in Gaza, where more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7.

The court in January ordered Israel to take "all measures within its power" to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza but fell short of ordering a cease-fire.

It also ordered Israel to take "immediate and effective" measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip.

A cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group, Hamas, on Oct. 7 killed less than 1,200 people, but the ensuing Israeli offensive into Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Despite international outcry, Israel now plans a ground invasion of Rafah, which holds 1.4 million refugees.

For the first time since its establishment in 1948, Israel is currently being tried before the ICJ, the highest judicial body in the UN, on charges of committing the crime of "genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza.