The decision of the International Court of Justice that Israeli settlements on Palestinian land are illegal demands immediate action from the New Zealand government, says a national advocacy group.
The ICJ in the Hague found in a landmark but non-binding advisory ruling on Friday that “Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law”.
The court said that the UN Security Council, the General Assembly and all states had an obligation not to recognise the occupation as legal and not to give aid or support toward Israel in maintaining it.
- READ MORE: Palestinians urge world to end Israel’s illegal occupation after ICJ ruling
- Why ICJ ruling against Israel’s settlement policies will be hard to ignore
- Other Israel’s War on Gaza reports
In a statement today, the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) said the NZ government should immediately:
- impose a ban on the importation of all products from the illegal Israeli settlements; and
- direct NZ’s Superfund, Accident Compensation Commission (ACC) and Kiwisaver funds to divest from companies identified by the United Nations Human Rights Council as complicit in the building and maintenance of these settlements.
The recently updated database is here.
The ICJ ruling confirmed what the UN Security Council found in passing resolution 2334 in 2016.
This resolution was co-sponsored by New Zealand, which had a place on the Security Council at the time under a National-led government.
The United Nations Security Council stated that, in the occupied Palestinian territories, Israeli settlements had “no legal validity” and constituted “a flagrant violation under international law”.
It said they were a “major obstacle to the achievement of the two-state solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace” in the Middle East.
ICJ-Israel Occupied territories resolution. Video: Al Jazeera
The ICJ ruling reinforced the UN resolution and the need for government action, the PSNA statement said.
“New Zealand, which co-sponsored the UN resolution in 2016 should lead the way on this,” said PSNA national chair John Minto.
“We need to put our money where our mouth is — especially since the current far-right Israeli government has said its ‘top priority’ is to push ahead with more illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land”.
New Zealanders have been holding national rallies in protest over Israel’s war on Gaza for nine months and protesters were expected to be out in their thousands this weekend to demand government action.
