Webinar | On the Table of the ICJ: The Legality/Illegality of Israeli Occupation and the Subsequent International Responsibility

On the 30^th of December 2022, the United Nations General Assembly, quoting UN Charter and rules of IHL and IHRL along with the 2004 ICJ Wall advisory opinion, requested that the International Court of Justice renders an advisory opinion on the

“(a) What are the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination..

(b) How do the policies and practices of Israel referred to in paragraph … (a) above affect the legal status of the occupation, and what are the legal consequences .. for all States and the United Nations from this status”

The allegation of illegality is nothing new to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza. The current UN Commission of Inquiry on Palestine/Israel (COI) recently finds that the Israeli occupation is unlawful under international law. A few years before that, the outgoing UN Special Rapporteur Prof. Michael Lynk established a four-point threshold for occupation to be deemed illegal; (i) the Occupying Power has annexed the territory, (ii) the occupation breaches the principle of temporariness, (iii) the Occupying Power fails to act in the best interests of the occupied population, and (iv) where an Occupying Power conducts the administration of territory in bad faith, by for example, building settlements. Prof. Ralph Wilde in a legal opinion (summarized here) argued that the Israeli occupation has crossed the threshold of legality arguing that the “existential illegality of the occupation arises out of the simple fact of the occupation as a system of control and domination without a valid legal basis.”

This webinar, organized by Law for Palestine and in partnership with ARDD, gathering international law experts and lawyers and NGOs directly involved and having a first-hand experience with the issue at hand, aims to:

• Discuss and examine the findings of the UN COI’s report establishing the illegality of Israeli occupation.
• Overview the different legal opinions on the legal status of the Israeli occupation over the OPT.
• Discuss the legal jurisdiction of the ICJ over the matter and the responsibility, towards the involved parties and the third states, established by its awaited advisory opinions.
• Discuss the role of civil society and independent jurists in the ICJ proceedings.