Sir, – The recent advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which deemed the prolonged occupation of Palestinian territory to be unlawful (“an unlawful act of a continuing character”), is an authoritative statement of international law regarding the occupation by Israel of Palestinian territory taken in war. The ICJ has clearly stated that Israel has an obligation to cease unlawful acts and bring an end to its presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Significantly, the ICJ also rules that other states are under an obligation not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In December 2022 the United Nations Convention on Trade and Development produced a study which stated that, between 2000 and 2020, the settlements contributed $628 billion to the economy of Israel while denying the Palestinian economy $50 billion. Clearly, the settlements are a key component of Israel’s economy and any relationship with them, by any state such as Ireland, or group of states such as the EU, constitutes a grave breach of international law and of our obligations to the Palestinian people. At the same time, the settlements impoverish Palestinians, who are a protected population under the laws governing occupation.
The Government says that passing the Occupied Territories Bill would be a breach of our legal obligations under EU law, though it has produced no persuasive argument or case law to support this view, and it is well established that customary international law is part of the EU legal order. At this point, passing the Occupied Territories Bill is a minimum requirement. It is now incumbent on the Government to conduct an audit of all economic and other relationships which Ireland has with Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise and, in the likely event of the continued inaction of the EU, to bring these activities to an end, without delay. Doing nothing, or arguing that we cannot act alone, is no longer a tenable position and leaves us in clear breach of our legal and moral obligations. – Yours, etc,
ÉAMONN MEEHAN,
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Chair,
Sadaka, the Ireland Palestine Alliance,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Ray Murphy, of the Irish Centre for Human Rights in the School of Law at Galway University, praises the “UN’s highest court of Justice”, the International Court of Justice, for its recent legal opinion on Israeli settlements and goes on to outline a litany of transgressions enacted by Israel which he finds comparable with the actions of Russia (“Now the ICJ has demolished Israeli justification of occupation of Palestine, Ireland must act”, Opinion & Analysis, July 26th).
At no point in the article is there any mention of the October 7th attack by Hamas, the elected government of Gaza. There is no acknowledgement of the thousands of missiles currently being fired into Israel by Hizbullah in the north and by Hamas in Gaza. There is no mention of Iran or Yemen which are waging a proxy war with Israel, using the Palestinian and Lebanese people as cannon fodder to promote their ideals.
Perhaps I am naive, but I always imagined human rights to belong to both sides in a conflict. – Yours, etc,
EUGENE TANNAM,
Firhouse,
Dublin 24.