Dozens of independent UN human rights experts have called on UN Member States to impose an arms embargo and targeted sanctions on Israel following the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) recent landmark ruling.
The UN’s highest court declared on July 19 that Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, “is unlawful,” along with the associated settlement regime, annexation and use of natural resources, the group of 38 experts said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The advisory opinion reaffirms peremptory norms prohibiting annexation, settlements, racial segregation and apartheid, and should be seen as declaratory in nature and binding on Israel and all States supporting the occupation,” the experts said.
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The ICJ mandated Israel to end its occupation, dismantle its settlements, provide full reparations to Palestinian victims and facilitate the return of displaced people, the statement added.
“While the UN Security Council and General Assembly will consider strategies to ensure a swift end to the illegal occupation”, the experts said, “States must immediately review all diplomatic, political, and economic ties with Israel, inclusive of business and finance, pension funds, academia and charities.”
They called for an arms embargo, an end to all other commercial that may damage the Palestinians, and targeted sanctions, including asset freezes, on Israeli individuals and entities involved in illegal occupation, racial segregation and apartheid policies.
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They further called for investigations and prosecutions against those involved in crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly dual citizens serving in Israel’s military or involved in settler violence.
The experts highlighted that the Court refuted the notion that Palestinian self-determination must be achieved solely through bilateral negotiations with Israel – a requirement that has subjected Palestinians to violence, dispossession and rights violations for 30 years.
“The Court has finally reaffirmed a principle that seemed unclear, even to the United Nations: Freedom from foreign military occupation, racial segregation and apartheid is absolutely non-negotiable,” the experts said.
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Not ‘Above Law’
They pointed out that since the Court’s ruling, Israel “has intensified attacks” on the civilian population in Gaza “and their natural resources.”
“Israel must comply with this advisory opinion, and other ICJ orders issued this year,” the experts warned. “Israel must stop acting as if uniquely above the law.
They also called on the international community to challenge Israel’s deliberate efforts to rewrite the rules of international humanitarian law, using it as “humanitarian camouflage” to legitimize potentially genocidal violence against all Palestinians.
“For too long, Palestinians have been held hostage to realpolitik, while Israel has made a mockery of international order and the normative framework of international law,” the experts said. “May the ICJ advisory opinion be the catalyst for renewed international action to restore and preserve an international order premised on respect for international law.”
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Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Tel Aviv is currently on trial for genocide against Palestinians since it began waging a devastating war on Gaza on October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 39,480 Palestinians have been killed, and 91,128 wounded. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
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Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
