Lamola welcomes World Court ruling against Israel

● The minister of international relations, Ronald Lamola, has hailed the World Court ruling that Israel’s occupation of Palestine territories is illegal, saying it vindicated South Africa’s stance that Palestinians were being subjected to apartheid and meant Israel now has “nowhere to hide”.

The ruling on Friday by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is not binding but carries considerable weight, found that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem violated international law.

The ICJ, which is also known as the World Court, declared that Israel was obliged to pay restitution for harm done and must remove Israeli settlers from the territories.

Speaking from Ghana, where he attended an AU meeting, Lamola said the ICJ’s finding was groundbreaking. “There is nowhere to hide for the state of Israel because they have always been arguing that they are acting in self-defence. This ruling clearly shows that an occupier can’t act in self-defence, and can’t enter and occupy another person’s state in violation of international law.”

He described the ruling as “decisive” and “instructive”, as it called on all members of the UN to take action against the occupation.

“This ruling is the most instructive with regards to occupation,” Lamola said.

“You will remember that we made a submission in court and we characterised the situation almost the same as our situation in South Africa and apartheid, segregation and related intolerance.”

He was referring to a separate case brought by South Africa in the ICJ in December last year, in which the country accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

“The court has agreed with our submission that indeed what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank is apartheid. This confirmation is a vindication of South Africa’s stance,” Lamola said.

The advisory opinion issued by the ICJ this week was sought by members of the UN General Assembly two years ago.

The president of the ICJ, Nawaf Salam, read out the findings of the 15-judge panel: “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.”

In a swift reaction, Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the opinion as “fundamentally wrong” and one-sided, and repeated its stance that a political settlement in the region can only be reached by negotiations.

“The Jewish nation cannot be an occupier in its own land,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. The opinion also angered West Bank settlers as well as politicians such as finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, whose nationalist religious party is close to the settler movement.

The Palestinian foreign ministry called the opinion “historic” and urged states to adhere to it. — Additional reporting by Reuters