OPINION: Bloody Sunday Trust to host second Derry Peace and Conflict International week

In July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful and must cease “as rapidly as possible.”

The court further ruled that Israel is obliged to immediately halt all new settlement activity; evacuate all settlers from the occupied territories; and pay reparations to Palestinians for the damage caused by Israel’s 57 years of military repression.

The ICJ also stated that a number of Israel’s policies in the occupied territories amount to the crime of apartheid.

Although the ICJ ruling as ‘an advisory opinion’ is non-binding it is nonetheless the expressed opinion of the world’s highest court on the legality of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, and represents a complete repudiation of Israel’s so called legal defence of its genocidal actions in occupied Palestine.

The ICJ has been very clear that Israel cannot claim to be acting in self-defence either to maintain its military occupation, or to suppress acts of resistance against that occupation.

It is of course naive to imagine that the occupation can be ended solely through court rulings and legal mechanisms. The US, UK and EU abandoned any pretence of adherence to international law when they chose to join Israel in an axis of genocide.

This does not however mean that Israel cannot be made to pay a price for its inhumane war on Palestine.

The most critical issue in this regard is the transformative impact the ICJ ruling can have on the relationship of states with Israel. The Genocide Convention confers the following obligations on states

1. To prevent genocide from happening and to co-operate to bring it to an end

2. Not to recognise the situation

3. Not to provide aid and assistance to the state plausibly committing genocide

4. To enable the criminal punishment of those individually responsible

In light of the ICJ ruling which is further reinforced by a growing number of reports from UN and EU Human Rights observers, Israel must now be subject to sanctions across the academic, trading, sporting, cultural, military and diplomatic spheres. Israel must be made a pariah state and there has never been a more favourable moment for such action to bring about change.

A recent Mondoweiss opinion piece entitled, ‘The end of Israel’s economy’ has laid out the stark facts of the economic catastrophe the Zionist state has brought on itself through its war-mongering.

Over 46,000 businesses have been bankrupted, tourism has halted, Israel’s credit rating has been lowered, Israeli government bonds are selling at “junk bonds” levels, and foreign investments which had already fallen by 60% in the first quarter of 2023 are showing no prospects of recovery.

It is also reported that the majority of the money invested in Israeli investment funds has been transferred abroad because Israelis do not want their pension funds or savings to be tied to the fate of the State of Israel.

The seizure of Israeli financial assets within the European financial system to fund reparations and the rebuilding of Palestine would undoubtedly have a dramatic effect on the mindset of the Israeli public.

While the Zionist regime continues to boast of its ability to destroy Lebanon and Iran the reality as described by leading Israeli academics is very different.

In one analysis, the economist Prof. Dan Ben David has asserted that the Israeli economy is held together by no more than about 300,000 people who comprise the senior staff in universities, tech companies, and hospitals.

If a significant percentage of these people choose to leave, Israel will in his view cease to exist.

Many educated Israelis are already leaving, some families are taking lengthy holidays abroad and others are exploring options for work and study elsewhere.

Leading Israeli historians, including Ilan Pappé have publicly stated that the Zionist project is now coming to an end. It may take some more time before this is an irrefutable fact.

Nonetheless it is undoubtedly certain that when a critical mass of Israelis accept that Israeli apartheid has become unsustainable, they will seek a better future for themselves from self interest if for no other reason.

This process can be accelerated by networks of international alliances working together to co-ordinate global anti-Zionist campaigns and actions.

One World One Struggle is the guiding principle of the Bloody Sunday Trust. In September the Trust will host its next Derry Peace and Conflict International, bringing together a large number of anti-Zionist activists to strengthen support networks, explore ideas for international campaigns and create joint action plans that will work towards a new and democratic political system in Palestine based on one person, one vote that guarantees equal rights to citizens of every religion and ethnicit.