UN experts urge states to heed ICJ opinion on Israeli occupation to 'not jeopardize entire edifice of int'l law'

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The UN experts on Wednesday urged states to comply with the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that described Israel's occupation of Palestine as "unlawful" to "not jeopardize the entire edifice of international law."

Nothing over 50 days have passed since the "landmark" advisory opinion was issued, the experts said in a statement: "States remain paralyzed in the face of the seismic shift represented by the Court’s ruling and appear unwilling or unable to take the necessary steps to meet their obligations."

The ICJ opinion, in response to a 2022 request by the UN General Assembly, said Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank is "unlawful" and should be brought to an end "as rapidly as possible."

It said Israel should cease new settlement activities, and “evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

"Devastating attacks on Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory show that by continuing to turn a blind eye to the horrific plight of the Palestinian people, the international community is furthering genocidal violence," the experts said.

The widespread destruction of Palestinian land and infrastructure, along with environmental pollution, resource exploitation, and degradation in Gaza, is "extreme" and expanding across the occupied territories, prompting allegations of domicide, urbicide, scholasticide, medicide, cultural genocide, and, more recently, ecocide, they said.

"Extreme violence and intimidation against Palestinians in the West Bank, and military assaults against the cities of Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarem, Tubas, and in rural areas, where Palestinians practice pastoralism, are all escalating," they warned and urged: "States must act now."

They listed a couple of actions that should be taken by states, including an immediate review of all diplomatic, political, and economic interactions with Israel, imposing a full arms embargo on Israel, banning goods and services emerging from both the colonization of occupied Palestinian territory and other unlawful activities and imposing sanctions, including asset freezes, on Israeli individuals and entities.

The experts asked states to prevent all of their citizens who hold dual citizenship with Israel from serving in the Israeli military or other services that contribute to the occupation.

They also urged states to take all measures to ensure that the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory can fully exercise and realize their right to self-determination and make submissions to the International Criminal Court so that it investigates international crimes included in the ICJ opinion.

"Failure to act now jeopardises the entire edifice of international law and rule of law in world affairs," they stressed. "The world stands upon the edge of a knife: Either we travel collectively towards a future of just peace and lawfulness – or hurtle towards anarchy and dystopia, and a world where might makes right."