The occupation is at The Hague but Israel is absent

Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Tul Karm on 18 February 2024

The Haaretz lead editorial on 21 February 2024:

This week, deliberations began on a United Nations General Assembly request to the International Court of Justice for an opinion regarding the legal status of the Israeli occupation, given its nature and conduct. The hearings began with the Palestinian delegation presenting its arguments, followed by those of 51 countries and three international organizations.

Like in war, occupations must also abide by the rules. The laws of occupation, which comprise part of the laws of war and international law generally, state that territory lying outside a country’s sovereign borders and taken during war will be administered by the state until a permanent solution is reached. The laws of occupation grant the occupying power certain rights to govern but also impose restrictions designed to protect the occupied and their rights.

One of the most important limits is the prohibition on the demographic engineering of the occupied territory: Its residents cannot be forcibly expelled and the occupier cannot settle its own citizens in the occupied area. Additionally, it is categorically forbidden for a state to annex occupied territory without the consent of those living under occupation.

The prohibition on annexation was a foundational pillar for the new global legal order created on the ruins of the two world wars. Its purpose is to put an end to one of the main traditional incentives for going to war, namely acquiring sovereignty over territory by force.

It is doubtful that in the 57 years of occupation, since the Six-Day War, Israel never violated any of the principles of the law of occupation. It annexed East Jerusalem, established hundreds of settlements and encouraged hundreds of thousands to make their home in them, established separate court systems for Israelis and Palestinians living in the West Bank, and favors Israelis over Palestinians in the allocation of resources. Today, officials are even openly talking about deporting the residents of the Gaza Strip.

In fact, Israel used the powers and authority given to it as the occupier to subvert those very laws. Instead of protecting the rights of Palestinians, it dispossessed them of their lands and seized their property for the settlement project. Instead of acting as a temporary administrator of the territory, it worked to establish permanent control. Instead of maintaining a regime of equality that looks out for all of those under it, it created an apartheid regime of systematic control and oppression over the Palestinians. And in recent years, many have pressed to unilaterally annex all or part of the West Bank.

Israel is not taking part in the deliberations because it realizes it would be difficult to dispute the claims. Instead of the Pavlovian condemnations of the court it has been engaging in, Israel would do better to change its policy and urgently resolve to end the occupation that makes life miserable for millions of people and corrupts Israeli society.

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