UN Palestinian Rights Committee Bureau Welcomes the landmark Advisory Opinion by the International Court of Justice and Calls for Rapid Action by the International Community

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STATEMENT OF THE BUREAU OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY’S COMMITTEE

ON THE EXERCISE OF THE INALIENABLE RIGHTS OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

23 July 2024

Committee Bureau Welcomes the landmark Advisory Opinion by the International Court of Justice and Calls for Rapid Action by the International Community

The Committee Bureau welcomes the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 19 July 2024 on the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, determining that Israel’s long occupation of the Palestinian territory (OPT) since 1967 is unlawful and that Israel must end it as rapidly as possible. This landmark Advisory Opinion is an important milestone in the Palestinian people’s long struggle for justice.

In the Advisory Opinion, the Court, inter alia, urges Israel to cease immediately all new settlement activities, evacuate all settlers, and make reparation for the damage caused to all the natural or legal persons concerned in the OPT. The Bureau underscores the imperative of respect for these calls and compliance by Israel with its international legal obligations.

To uphold the international legal system and safeguard peace and security, the Bureau also calls on all States to follow the Court’s advice by not recognizing the unlawful presence of Israel in the OPT as legal and refraining any support that would sustain this situation. Protecting Palestinian land rights and its contiguity is essential for realizing Palestinian rights. For Member States yet to act, promptly recognizing the State of Palestine is a crucial step.

The world’s highest UN judicial body determined that the unlawful occupation must end, affirming the longstanding views of the overwhelming majority of Member States, the Palestinian people, UN Special Rapporteurs and experts, scholars, civil society organizations, and a legal study commissioned by the Committee, and holding Israel, the occupying Power, accountable for decades of well-documented human rights violations and grave breaches of international humanitarian law.

The ICJ Advisory Opinion comes at a time when the war in Gaza is inflicting Palestinians unimaginable human loss and hardship, while heightened settler violence, systematic displacement and dispossession continue in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, underscoring the urgent need for international action to halt and reverse the occupation in all its manifestations. The occupation violates and impedes the right of the Palestinian people to self- determination and threatens the viability of a two-State solution as enshrined in UN resolutions.

Urgent and concerted international action must follow the Court’s Advisory Opinion. The Bureau calls on the General Assembly, which requested the Advisory Opinion, and the Security Council to urgently consider the specific measures needed to end this unlawful occupation as fast as possible. The Committee stands ready to implement the mandate of the General Assembly in this endeavour.

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