Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-04T12:04:33.785Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Advisory Opinion)

International Court of Justice.  09 July 2004 .

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Get access

Abstract

Jurisdiction — International Court of Justice — Advisory jurisdiction — United Nations General Assembly adopting Resolution ES-10/14 — General Assembly requesting advisory opinion on question set forth in resolution — Competence of Court — Article 65(1) of Statute of International Court of Justice — Competence of General Assembly — United Nations Charter, Articles 96(1), 10 and 11(2) — Whether General Assembly exceeding its competence — Whether General Assembly contravening Article 12(1) of Charter — Interpretation of Article 12 — Validity of request — General Assembly’s Tenth Emergency Special Session — Whether properly seised under Resolution 377 A (V) of matter before Court — Whether question submitted to Court of legal character — Alleged lack of clarity of terms of request — Whether having effect on legal nature of question — Political aspects — Whether depriving question of legal character — Whether depriving Court of competence

Jurisdiction — International Court of Justice — Advisory jurisdiction — Discretionary power — Judicial propriety — Whether compelling reason for Court not to comply with request for advisory opinion — Relevance of Israel’s lack of consent to judicial settlement — Whether advisory opinion impediment to solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict — Whether Court having sufficient information and evidence — Relevance of opinion’s usefulness — Whether Israel’s good faith and “clean hands” argument compelling reason for Court to decline request

Territory — Occupied Palestinian Territory — Occupying Power Israel constructing wall in Occupied Palestinian Territory — Whether contrary to international law — Relevant rules and principles of international law — United Nations Charter — Other treaties — Customary international law — Relevant General Assembly and Security Council resolutions adopted pursuant to Charter — Applicability to Palestinian Occupied Territory — Occupied territory — Definition — Status — Territorial acquisition by threat or use of force — Self-determination of peoples — International humanitarian law — International human rights conventions — Whether wall as routed gravely infringing human rights of Palestinians residing in occupied territory — Whether wall necessary to attain Israel’s security objectives — Whether justified by military exigencies, national security or public order

Territory — Status — Occupation — Occupied territories in which Israel having status of occupying Power — Customary international law — Article 42 of Hague Regulations of 1907 — Threat or use of force — Article 2(4) of United Nations Charter — Territorial acquisition resulting from threat or use of force — Illegality — Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) — General Assembly Resolution 2625 (XXV) (1970) — Whether wall tantamount to de facto annexation

War and armed conflict — International humanitarian law — Treaties — Fourth Geneva Convention relative to Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, 1949 — Applicability to Occupied Palestinian Territory — Hague Regulations annexed to Fourth Hague Convention on Laws and Customs of Warfare on Land, 1907 — Customary international law

Human rights — International human rights law — Treaties — International human rights conventions to which Israel party — International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 — International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966 — Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 — Applicability to Occupied Palestinian Territory — Relationship between international humanitarian law and human rights law — Applicability of human rights instruments outside national territory

Human rights — Right of peoples to self-determination — United Nations Charter — General Assembly Resolution 2625 (XXV) (1970) — International Covenants on Human Rights, 1966, Article 1 — Right erga omnes — Whether Israel breaching obligation to respect right of Palestinian people to self-determination — Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory — Whether contrary to Article 49(6) of Fourth Geneva Convention, 1949 — Legal validity — Whether wall tantamount to de facto annexation — Whether altering demographic composition

Human rights — Rights of Palestinians residing in territory occupied by Israel — Whether Israel’s routed wall gravely infringing those rights — Destruction or requisition of properties — Demographic changes — Right to freedom of movement — Right to work — Right to adequate standard of living — Right to health — Right to education — Hague Regulations, 1907, Articles 46 and 52 — Fourth Geneva Convention, 1949, Articles 53 and 49(6) — Security Council Resolutions 446, 452 (1979) and 465 (1980) — International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, Article 12(1) — International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966, Articles 6, 7, 11, 12, 13 and 14 — United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, Articles 16,24,27 and 28 — Whether Israel in breach of obligations under international law

Terrorism — War and armed conflict — Israel claiming wall to protect from terrorist attacks — Self-defence — Article 51 of United Nations Charter — Whether relevant — Security Council Resolutions 1368 and 1373 (2001) — Whether Israel could invoke — State of necessity — Whether construction of wall only way for Israel to safeguard essential interest against grave and imminent peril

State responsibility — Legal consequences arising from Israel’s construction of wall — Whether responsibility of Israel engaged under international law — Whether Israel bound to comply with its international obligations — Whether Israel obliged to put an end to any internationally wrongful act — Obligations upon all States under United Nations Charter and international law — Additional obligation upon States parties to Fourth Geneva Convention, 1949 — Obligation upon both Israel and Palestine to observe rules of international humanitarian law — Protection of civilian life — Requirement of implementation in good faith of all relevant Security Council resolutions

Damages — Reparation — Whether Israel under obligation to make reparation for all damage caused by construction of wall — Customary international law — Restitution in kind — Payment of equivalent sum — Compensation in accordance with applicable international law rules

War and armed conflict — Israeli-Palestinian conflict threatening international peace and security — United Nations Charter — United Nations — Organs — General Assembly — Security Council — Article 12 of United Nations Charter — Whether any further action required — Requirement of implementation in good faith of all relevant Security Council resolutions — Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) — “Roadmap” approved by Security Council Resolution 1515 (2003) — Negotiated solution to outstanding problems — Establishment of Palestinian State — Peace and security in Middle East region

Type
Case Report
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)