Press release
Statement by the Tánaiste on the ICJ Advisory Opinion
From Department of Foreign Affairs
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Foreign Affairs
Published on
Last updated on
I very much welcome the Advisory Opinion delivered by the International Court of Justice in The Hague earlier today on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.
While the Court’s Opinion is lengthy and complex, and will require more detailed consideration, it largely confirms the Government’s legal analysis - outlined in Ireland’s written and oral submissions, and presented by the Attorney General to the Court back in February 2024 - that Israel’s settlement and related policies in the OPT amount to illegal annexation.
Ireland’s core objective in making submissions in this case was to encourage the Court to clarify the rights of the Palestinian people in international law. This is essential, both to counter increasing misinformation internationally on this point, as well as to ensure that these rights are fully respected in any future settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It is absolutely clear that there can be no just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without respect for international law. The Court’s authoritative clarification of the legal consequences of Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is of fundamental importance in this context.
I would also emphasise that, in its Opinion, the Court concluded that Israel’s continued presence in the OPT is unlawful, and that Israel is under an obligation to bring it to an end as rapidly as possible. It said that the precise modalities and the further action required to do that are to be considered by the UN General Assembly and the Security Council.
I will be engaging with partners – in the EU, across the region, and more widely within the United Nations – to see how we can now bring to bear this authoritative opinion by the Court to end to Israel’s illegal presence in the OPT, and bring about the full realisation of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
Ireland will remain committed to the two-State solution endorsed over many decades by the UN Security Council: a safe and secure Israel and an independent, democratic, contiguous, sovereign and viable State of Palestine, living side by side in peace within secure and recognised borders, based on those of 1967, with Jerusalem as the future capital of both states.
ENDS
Press Office
19 July 2024
Notes to editors:
In December 2022, the UN General Assembly requested an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967, including East Jerusalem. Ireland voted in favour of this resolution.
Ireland submitted a written statement to the Court in July 2023, as did 53 other states and three international organisations. This was a record number of interventions in an advisory opinion case.
Public hearings in this case opened on 19 February 2024, with an intervention by Palestine (Israel chose not to participate). A total of 52 states and three international organisations made oral statements. Ireland was represented by the Attorney General, who delivered the Irish statement on Thursday 22 February 2024.
The request for an advisory opinion is a separate process to the case taken by South Africa against Israel under the 1948 Genocide Convention. The advisory opinion proceedings also predate 7 October and the ongoing war in Gaza. The Government has previously confirmed that it intends to file a declaration of intervention in this case, under Article 63 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, after South Africa has filed its memorial.