Norris McDonald | The ICJ, Israel’s illegal settlements and the Palestinian crisis

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has made a dramatic ruling that Israel’s occupation of Gaza is illegal, and they must get out of Palestine. The world court further demanded that Israel must immediately stop building more settlements and dismantle those they built.

“Israel has no sovereignty over occupied Palestine,” the United Nation’s World Court ruled.

This is a stunning development during the war between Israel, the Palestinian resistance and their allies in Lebanon, Yemen, Iran and Iraq.

It now puts pressure on Israel’s American and European supporters to decide if they are going to ignore their international legal obligations.

The ICJ anticipated this and further ruled that United Nations members are required to support this ruling and must stop helping Israel carry out such illegal activities in Palestine.

Palestinians also have a right to seek reparations from Israel in any court of law, the World Court said.

This ruling is a reaffirmation of the Security Council’s resolutions previously passed, and ignored by Israel, that order them to withdraw from all occupied territories and return to the 1967 borders.

GENOCIDE IN GAZA

Since Israel was established in 1948, it has pursued a policy of expulsion of Palestinians from their lands. Following the 1967 Arab-Israel war, the settlement expansion policy was rapidly increased.

This is the key issue addressed by the ICJ in its ruling. It addresses Palestinian grievances, even though Israel may continue to flout international law.

Israel’s policy of expulsion, annexation and settlement building has made Palestinians’ lives unbearable, as they have been driven from their land by violence.

With the events of October 7, 2023, in which the Palestinian resistance attacked Israeli military and nearby settlements, the world has witnessed the infliction of punishment on the civilian population of Gaza.

Over 40,000 Palestinians have died, mostly women and children.

On the Israeli side, a reportedly 1,200 people died in the initial October 7 attack by the Palestinian resistance.

Given the ongoing war and alleged atrocities committed in Gaza by the Israelis, the International Criminal Court issued war crimes arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Members of the Israel army were charged with war crimes, too.

Leaders of Hamas, who carried out the October 7, 2023, attack and kidnapping of hostages, were also charged with war crimes.

The unfolding events in Gaza have shocked the entire world.

We have witnessed mass demonstrations worldwide as people expressed the condemnation of the bloodletting in Gaza.

The new British Labor Party government, elected on July 4, has joined the public repudiation of Israel’s actions.

“The Palestinian people have been in purgatory for years,” UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said.

He sharply rebuked the Israeli government for the clear genocidal crisis in Gaza.

“Settler expansion and settler violence [against Palestinians] has reached new levels,” he added. “The only way out of this crisis is to have a viable Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel.”

David Lammy, in agreeing with the ICJ ruling, condemned Israeli settler colonialism.

“The Israeli government has seized more of the West Bank in 2024 than in the last 20 years. This is completely unacceptable,” the new British foreign secretary said.

The British government’s new public poster represents a sharp break with the attitude of America and Germany who are strong supporters of Israel.

Also, in contrast to the Biden administration, which has helped Israel in its brutal war on Gaza, former US President Bill Clinton is on record blaming Benjamin Netanyahu for “sabotaging the peace process”.

Netanyahu has been a major extremist force in Israel over the past 20 years. He has been in and out of power, but as always pursued the same policy of annexation of Palestinian lands.

“It was Benjamin Netanyahu who killed the peace process,” former President Clinton said in a September 22, 2011 interview with Josh Rogin of Foreign Policy news magazine.

“Every American needs to know that … Benjamin Netanyahu’s continuous call for negotiations over borders meant he is not going to give up the West Bank.”

Bill Clinton’s words have proven to be prophetic. He played a key role in trying to negotiate between Israel and the Palestinians.

Even during this crisis, Israel leaders boast about what is a clear racist apartheid policy.

“We are occupying, deporting and settling,” the Gaza Strip’s Ben Gvir proudly declared in mid-January 2024.

He is a key leader of the settler movement on whom Netanyahu depends to stay in power. He has advocated for the expulsion of Palestinians to Africa.

A NEW POLITICAL REALITY

But this bravado is not matched by the political reality. Suddenly, the Zionist settler’s colonialism is no longer attractive to those who illegally occupy Palestinian lands and live in the settlements.

In the face of the multi-front war, over two million settlers fled Israel, with many reportedly saying they will never return.

The Israeli army is in a state of crisis, too. They never expected such a protracted, tenacious fight.

Mental trauma is high in the Israeli army.

The obviously demoralised Israel Defense Force (IDF) now has a public split with the Netanyahu government. They are advocating a political solution to the crisis, telling Netanyahu that “the war is just unwinnable”.

Indeed, a June 19, 2024 report revealed that Israel acknowledges that it had over 70,000 disabled soldiers.

Over 35 per cent of these disabled soldiers reportedly grapple with nightmarish mental trauma because, as they said, “it was like they were fighting ghosts in Gaza”.

The Israeli news site Ynet reports that soldiers’ phone calls to psychologist helpline have increased six-fold.

Meanwhile, over 500 Israeli tanks have been destroyed in Gaza, a news report says.

It is truly a new military and political reality.

The IDF has conceded that it can’t win the war with the Palestinian resistance. It is therefore pushing the Israeli politicians to seek a political settlement of the conflict.

And it is obvious, if we are to follow all lessons from history, that it is extremely difficult to subdue a restless population who are tenaciously fighting for self-determination.

That is just the ‘bitta’ truth.

Norris McDonald is an economic journalist, political analyst, and respiratory therapist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and miaminorris@yahoo.com.