The World Court
The International Court of Justice
The propaganda surrounding the Palestine / Israel conflict is so heavy, that the truths have become distorted, the facts blurred and the core issues have been sidelined.

Here are a few facts:

The International Court of Justice has ruled on the matter:


The World Court, the highest judicial body in the world, has advised on many issues in this conflict.

  • The Israeli Settlements in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem are illegal under International Law and must be removed.
Yet,
* Israel is still expanding these Jew-Only Settlements.
* Israel is still destroying Palestinian homes and villages to build new Settlements.
* Israel has built a Separation Wall around the Settlements to protect them from angry Palestinians.
* Israel insists on keeping these Settlements under any Peace Deal with Palestinians.

  • West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem are Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Israel, and mainstream media, continue to refer to these as 'disputed territories'. Why? To lend validity to the Zionist Settlement enterprise? These are not 'disputed'. There is nothing to negotiate here, yet the world sit through countless Peace Conferences and awaits an esoteric Peace Deal. The World Court has spoke: They are "Occupied Palestinian Territories", plain and simple. Case closed.


You can read the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice here.

By Boycotting Israeli Goods you tell the Israeli government that their flouting of International Law is unacceptable.

 

The Significance of the ICJ Ruling

"The 9 July 2004 ruling is the first from the Court regarding the legality of Israel's actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. The conclusions reached by the Court pertaining to Israel's obligations are based on binding laws such as United Nations Security Council resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Conventions. States are obliged to ensure that international law is followed.

The Court's ruling specifically recognizes the role of the international community by calling upon nations to "ensure compliance by Israel with international humanitarian law" (par. 146)."

One Year After the ICJ Ruling: Israel's Construction of the Wall and Settlements Continues Unabated.

 
 
Enforcing the World Court’s Advisory Opinion

The ICJ did find that the construction of the wall was a valid reason for imposing positive obligations on third states. At paragraph 159, the ICJ called upon the international community:

(1) Not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem;

(2) Not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation brought about by such construction;

(3) To see to it that any impediment, resulting from the construction of the wall, to the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination is brought to an end (while respecting the United Nations Charter and international law); and

(4) To ensure Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law as embodied in the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.

"In its advisory opinion, which has been approved by the General Assembly, the International Court of Justice indicated that there are consequences of the Wall for States other than Israel. States are reminded of their obligation not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the Wall and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the construction of the Wall. Israel’s defiance of international law poses a threat not only to the international legal order but to the international order itself. This is no time for appeasement on the part of the international community". - John Dugard, UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
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Israeli Violations of International Law on Water

Israeli Violations of International Law on Water in the Occupied Territories

Extracts from an article by Stephen Lendman / July 16th, 2008 

 West Bank water is another Palestinian asset that Israel illegally utilises / monopolises. West Bank has three principle aquifers supplying about one-quarter of Israel’s needs, including for its settlements and nearly all of what West Bank Palestinians get. They are:

* the Yarkon-Tanninim Aquifer supplying Israel with about 340 million cubic meters (mcm) of water annually — to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv mainly; Palestinians get far less — about 20 mcm a year; 

* the Nablus-Gilboa Aquifer supplying about 115 mcm annually, largely for agricultural irrigation in Galilee-based kibbutzim and moshavim cooperative settlements; 

* the Eastern Aquifer supplying about 40 mcm a year to Jordan Valley-based settlements; another 60 mcm go to Palestinians. 

Water also comes from the upper Jordan River and its tributaries — the Sea of Galilee, the Yarmouth, and lower Jordan River. Palestinians are denied most of it. As their population grows, shortages have become more acute because of Israel’s restrictive policies. 

By integrating Occupied Territory water resources into its legal and bureaucratic system and denying Palestinians the right to develop them for their own use, Israel violates international law under Articles 43 and 55 of the 1907 Hague Regulations. Also Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention relating to treating “all protected persons….with the same consideration by the Party to the conflict in whose power they are….” 


Then there’s Article 6 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses. It requires water division between states to be reasonable and equitable. Not according to a specific formula but with regard to seven factors: 
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