ICJ Ruling Vindicates International Law,
Not International Community
By Ramzy Baroud
The wait is over. The International Court of Justice at The Hague has finally ruled on Israel’s Separation Wall, kicking
the ball out of its court, and into that of all major players in the Arab-Israeli conflict. But the question remains:
Will the historic decision of July 9, 2004 become another memento of United Nations incompetence, US and Israeli
arrogance and Arab political worthlessness?
“The construction of the wall and its associated regimes are contrary to international law,” read the document of the
ruling, leaving little room for intentional misinterpretation.
The ruling was convincing, not only because of the clarity and meticulousness of the language used, but also because
there was a near consensus on all the provisions it entailed. Only the American judge Thomas Buerghenthal opposed the
ruling, in an obvious, albeit disheartening loyalty to political considerations than to the legal substance of the
matter.
The ICJ ruling went even further than expected: “All states are under obligations not to recognize the illegal situation
resulting from the construction of the wall.” The court has successfully contextualized the wall within the framework of
the overall conflict, in which the wall is only one disturbing product. Thus it reminded Israel that it’s “bound to
comply with its obligations to respect the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and its obligations
under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”
The ruling of the world’s most respected and presumably influential legal body has illuminated the legal perception of
the now formally illegal Israeli wall. But it doubtlessly achieved more than that.
First, it re-shifted attention back to international law as the only viable frame of reference to solving world
conflicts, rendering irrelevant all that resulted from political coercing imposed on Palestinians through the US and
Israel, and that resulting from imprudence of the Palestinian Authority itself.
Second, it restated the historic and political relevancy of past United Nations resolutions, particularly 242, which
demands an Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories.
Third, it reminded the international community and major signatories of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 of their
obligations under international law, holding them accountable to any transgression upon Palestinian rights or the direct
or indirect support of those who violate these rights.
Finally, it pulled from underneath the feet of Arab and Muslim countries, including the Palestinian leadership the rug
of reliance on the incompetence or indecisiveness of international law to justify their own shortcomings.
The ICJ has done all that a legal body of its capacity can do. But the court can do nothing, nor should it be expected
to carry out the provisions of the ruling. This is a job for UN member states and for those who claim to champion the
rule of law.
Israel’s response to the ruling held no surprises. Various Israeli government officials declared their country’s
intention to move forward in the construction of the 600km-long Separation Wall. When asked by a CNN anchorwoman: why
not build the wall on Israeli land? (since the wall will eventually sprawl 900 km into the West Bank), current Israeli
finance minister Benjamin Netanyahu replied: the West Bank is not Palestinian land, it’s “disputed land”.
While Israel insists on living in a world of its own, free from the constraints of international law, world courts and
UN resolutions, shouldn’t the champion of a new world order and democracy and the self-imposed executor of international
law, the US government, adhere to the ICJ ruling? Not in a context in which Israel is the antagonist. This is the
resounding reality that puts Israel above the law, thanks to US coercive politics and generous Security Council vetoes.
White House spokesperson and other US officials received the ruling with the same tired argument, that the ICJ has no
place in a political dispute, that the ruling will complicate matters not solve them, and that such a decision will make
difficult the implementation of the US-advocated Road Map peace initiative.
If a transgression as deep and ingrained as that of the Arab-Israeli conflict, with its tremendous human cost on both
sides and extensive harm and constant threat to an entire region, topped with an illegal wall twice as that of Berlin’s
and one-fifth that of China’s is not a matter for the ICJ to decide, then the court’s are better off filing for an early
retirement.
As for the Road Map; I wonder if it’s the same Road Map ‘envisioned’ by US President George W. Bush, altered by Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, then completely shelved by the latter with the support of major US Zionist organizations
and neoconservative ideologues, for it tantamount to US ‘pressure’ on Israel? Is it the same Road Map that was discarded
in favor of Sharon’s Disengagement Plan and hailed by President Bush, despite the fact that it gives Israel a mandate to
configure the final solution to the Middle East conflict in any way it finds convenient, since Palestinians cannot be
trusted as a ‘peace partner’?
If it is, then why decrying a Road Map that was shot, bombed and bulldozed to death by Israel with the support of its
own creator, President Bush himself?
On the other hand, Europe who has messed about long enough, to avoid harboring any foes, must take a stand and a
decisive one. The urgency of the situation leaves no chance for Europe’s balancing act it adopted supposedly because of
its geopolitical uniqueness. While it has called on Israel to halt the construction of the wall in carefully worded
statements, it continues to forge relations and alliance with the rouge state. Some European countries are major arms
suppliers to Israel, so quick in condemning Palestinian militant groups, yet so slow in confronting Israel’s flagrant
violations of international law.
However disheartening, it must be said, that despite its political blurriness (with the exception of some European Union
members), Europe still holds a great political weigh in favor of a just solution to the Middle East conflict, than most,
if not all Arab and Muslim countries.
This unpleasant fact has been highlighted time and again as the Arab and Muslim world experiences one of its most
disintegrative phases in modern history. While most Arabs and Muslims are still united around the idea that Palestine is
their foremost cause, it seems that not one government within the Arab and Muslim political hemisphere is capable of
asserting itself in any tangible form to counter the deep imbalance infused by the US government policies in the region.
Without the reinvention of a solid and perpetual political platform, Arab and Muslim governments shall derive its
relevance to this conflict, merely on the grounds of its historic and cultural proximity, yet utterly marginalized
otherwise.
As far as the Palestinians are concerned, the ICJ ruling has helped reinstate, in so decisive a fashion, the legitimacy
and sanctity of their struggle. However, while it absolved and freed the Palestinian people from the irresponsible and
incoherent political line adopted by their leadership, through the re-establishment of the role of international law,
the ICJ ruling should not be used as substantiation of the PA’s bankrupt and reckless political approach.
On the contrary, the PA, an immature body, born of an illegitimate peace process starting with the Oslo Accords in 1993,
has ominously contributed to the localization of the Palestinian struggle, stripping it of its international context and
reducing it into a platform of corruption and nepotism.
Among the many scandals that tainted the PA’s dismal legacy was the legitimate charge that various Palestinian
companies, tied to prominent individuals affiliated with the PA, have helped construct illegal Jewish settlements in the
occupied territories. But what is even more outraging and most relevant to the ICJ ruling is the recent report prepared
by a Palestinian Legislative Council committee.
The report, which took months in the making and is now sitting in the office of the Palestinian attorney general,
concludes that major Palestinian companies have been smuggling and selling cement at a cheaper rate to Israel to speed
its construction of the Separation Wall.
These companies are said to be directly affiliated with some PA ministers, who have been accused repeatedly of helping
construct illegal Jewish settlement for a quick buck. Not only are many top PA officials accused of playing a role in
completing the transaction (involving 420,000 tons of Egyptian cement), but the PA’s highest leadership seems inclined
to sweep the accusations under the rug, like it did so profusely in past scandals.
Without serious reform (not self-serving Israeli and American reforms) that engenders accountability, the PA is on its
way to become a liability to the Palestinian struggle. It becomes almost nonsensical demanding the international
community to fulfill its obligations toward implementing international law including the latest ICJ ruling, while rich
Palestinian fat cats are helping build the cage that shall imprison their own people for years to come.
Indeed, the International Court of Justice has done so honorable a job in granting this moral victory, not only to the
Palestinian people, but to politically weak and unprotected nations worldwide. But the ruling shall remain in the realm
of the intangible until those involved in the conflict are reminded of their legal and political duty toward
international law.
Without such an awakening, the Sharon and Bush doctrines are those likely to prevail, above the law, above the ICJ and
its 15 judges and above our world’s moral decency, or whatever remains of it.
-Ramzy Baroud is an Arab-American journalist, Head of Research & Studies at Aljazeera.net English and Editor-in-Chief of PalestineChronicle.com.