ICJ Failed The Palestinians | VT Foreign Policy
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$ 280 BILLION US TAXPAYER DOLLARS INVESTED since 1948 in US/Israeli Ethnic Cleansing and Occupation Operation; $ 150B direct "aid" and $ 130B in "Offense" contractsSource: Embassy of Israel, Washington, D.C. and US Department of State.
ICJ Failed The Palestinians
By Dr. Elias Akleh
January 31st. 2024
The International Criminal Court (ICJ) had failed the Palestinians. It did not protect them and allowed the Israeli genocide to continue. Similar to all the hypocritically self-acclaimed international legal, justice, and humanitarian organizations the ICJ failed to protect the Palestinian civilians of the Gaza Strip by not acknowledging the Israeli brutal genocide despite the fact that such genocide is broadcasted live on air and on the internet all over the world.
Wall Street Journal had reported by December 30th that more than 70% of Gaza’s homes and half of its public buildings and most of its infrastructure have been completely destroyed. Israeli bombers targeted and destroyed complete residential blocks, single homes, tower apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, churches, mosques, public buildings, cultural site and virtually everything that is built. Evern cemeteries were not spared from the Israeli savage attacks. At least 600 cemeteries have been bulldozed, corpses vandalized, and many snatched away for body parts.
More destruction has been inflicted during the month of January. It was conservatively estimated that Israel has dropped American-supplied bombs on the most densely populated 141 square miles Gaza with a total devastating power far exceeds three nuclear bombs of the “Little Boy” nuclear bomb that was dropped on Japanese city of Hiroshima. By January 31st the Israeli terrorist forces have killed 26,900 Palestinians mostly women and children and wounded 65,949 Palestinians while many other estimated 7,000 killed are not accounted for buried under the rubble.
Large part of Gaza Palestinians are originally Palestinian refugees expelled from their homes during the 1948 Israeli occupation (the Nakba). Another large part are refugees, who were expelled from their homes during the 1967 Israeli war (the Naksah). Palestinians are killed by Israeli bombers. They are killed by Israeli soldiers. They are killed by Israeli tanks. Wounded Palestinians are killed by lack of medicine. Palestinian families are killed by hunger and thirst. They are killed by severe cold and heavy rain for lack of shelters. They are killed by imprisonment in the largest ever concentration prison and lack of safety. They are killed by psychological pain, confusion, grief, anger, frustration, and lack of hope. Israel had turned Gaza Strip into the largest ever open-air concentrated prison, now Israel, with the help of Biden’s administration, Israel is turning Gaza Strip into the largest ever concentrated graveyard.
Today’s, January 31st, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report about the economic impact of Israeli military war on Gaza states that the unprecedented level of destruction in the Gaza Strip rendered it uninhabitable. Some areas have been completely destroyed by the Israeli aggression. Tens of billions of dollars are needed to rehabilitate and rebuild, which will take long decades.
Yet the ICJ had a problem recognizing all this as a genocide even though many Israeli political leaders, Israeli military leaders, and even Israeli religious leaders are calling for complete destruction of Gaza, and the annihilations and expulsion of Palestinians (called Amalek and human animals). Although the court recognized Palestinians as a “protected group” (raising their status from “human animals” as described by Gallant) under the provisions of the Genocide Convention it did not recognize the Palestinian’s right of self-defense against the brutal 75 years long Israeli genocidal settler occupation. The court failed short of not accusing Israel of committing a genocidal crime, an obvious genocide that is being broadcasted live on air throughout the whole world.
The court did not order Israel to immediately halt its military attacks against Gaza, or even to lift its state of siege. Instead, it ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of the Genocide convention.”This gives a green light for Israel to continue its military assault on Gaza up to a level not to be considered a genocide. This is practically similar to what Biden’s administration have been instructing Israeli leaders to do. That is instead of killing one thousand Palestinian civilians a day, kill only five hundred, instead of destroying a whole residential block with every dropped bomb, destroy only one or two houses at a time, instead of detonating many schools and universities in one day, detonate only one school and one university every other day, instead of destroying the 700 mosques Israeli bombers did within two months, destroy only one or two mosques per month.
The court was “humanitarian” enough to remind Israel of its duty to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians. Yet, how could any delivery of humanitarian aid be accomplished when there is no ceasefire. Such an attempt is a suicidal mission. Without a ceasefire all other decisions are senseless. The Gaza Strip concentrated prison is besieged with barbed wires and has only two crossing gates; Rafah crossing to Egypt, and Karm Abu Salem crossing to occupied Palestine (Israel). Entry and exit through the two crossings are virtually controlled by Israel. Israeli tanks and fighter planes block entry of humanitarian aid through Rafah crossings. After ICJ’s ruling armed extremist Israeli settlers (colonizers, who are usually part of the Israeli army since the age of 18 years old) have been blocking humanitarian aid through Karm Abu Salem crossing. No humanitarian aid is allowed in.
Israeli leaders have no respect for international legal organizations. Israel had never respected or conformed to any UN resolutions but violated each and every one of them. They consider themselves above the law since they believe they are “god’s chosen”. Netanyahu vowed that “No one will stop us – not the Hague, not the axis of evil, and no one else.” He would not stop the war until he destroys Hamas (Gaza and Palestinians) and release the hostages as he keeps promising. Israeli war minister, Yoav Gallant, keeps threatening and promising that after the war Israel would impose a military rule over the Gaza Strip.
On January 28th. Israel’s extremist far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir convened what was called “Victory conference” attended by sixteen members of the Israeli Knesset. Ben-Gvir repeated his support for what he called “voluntary immigration” {compulsory expulsion}of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians as the most moral and logical solution” and for Israeli re-settlement of the Gaza Strip. All these Israeli members of Knesset showed no respect to the ruling of the International Court of Justice. Forced expulsion of any group is a crime against humanity, and Israeli colonies (settlements) on stolen Palestinian land are a violation of international law. Yet Biden’s administration still wants to reward Israel with $14 billion of American hard earning tax money and punish the Palestinian victims by cutting aid to UNRWA the agency that is providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian refugees.
Israeli soldiers did not stop murdering Palestinian civilians even those who raise white flags. Israeli military vehicles did not stop raiding Palestinian cities of the West Bank destroying homes and taking hostages (6,420 Palestinian hostages as of January 31st.), they also attack hospitals and murder sick and wounded Palestinian in cold blood. Israeli bombers did not stop destroying Palestinian civilian buildings knowing very well that such buildings as schools, hospitals, religious centers are used as refugee centers. Israeli political and religious leaders did not stop calling for Gaza destruction and forced expulsion of Palestinians.
Yet, ICJ had a problem recognizing the obvious Israeli genocide of Gaza Palestinians. This same court did not have problem recognizing genocide in the Russian Ukraine case, It did not have any problem recognizing a genocide in the Serbia Herzegovina case, and it did not have any problem recognizing a genocide in the Myanmar Rohingya case. So, what is different in Israel Palestine case?
The failure of the ICJ, as well as the UN and every other international legal organization who failed to protect Palestinians for the last 75 years from the deliberate Zionist Israeli genocidal campaign of the Greater Israel scheme, uncovers the underlying fact that all these international organizations had been established by the victors of the WWII to serve their own colonial schemes rather than protecting humanitarian civil rights.
Palestinians have learned this fact the hard way. After 75 years of peaceful political negotiations to protect their lives and their homeland, they discovered that such negotiations will not put an end to the Israeli genocidal attacks that are encouraged, armed, and politically protected by successive American administrations. They learned the hard fact that this world runs mainly by power enforced rules not by humanitarian rules. They either silently watch one hundred of their children slaughtered daily by Israeli forces, or stand up and fight back. They could protect their children and free their homeland from Israeli occupation only through military power not by the fake internationals laws. Since they are occupied they have the legal, moral, and also religious right for militarized self-defense. Palestine, similar to Vietnam and Afghanistan among others, will only be liberated by force of arms and not by force of hypocritical international laws.
Dr. Elias Akleh is an Arab-American from Palestinian descent. His family was evicted from Haifa, Palestine after the 1948 Nakba when Zionists stole his family’s property. Then the family was evicted again from the West Bank during the 1967 Naksah, after Zionists again, occupied the rest of Palestine.
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