JVL calls on the Labour government to swiftly and fully enforce the actions recommended in the International Court of Justice Judgement on the illegality of Israeli settlements.
The Judgement lays out in great legal detail how Israel’s continued occupation of both the West Bank and East Jerusalem contravenes multiple international statutes. It also rules that there is de facto illegal occupation of Gaza because of Israeli control of entry and exit from Gaza and the steps it takes to impede economic development and everyday life.
JVL welcomes the Judgement. While much of the careful legal analysis in the Judgement is new, the underlying description of illegal occupation and apartheid is not. The structures and the brutality used to enforce them have been spelled out over years by Palestinians; their Jewish and non-Jewish allies; by authoritative NGOs; and by the UN’s own rapporteurs and commissions….
We call on the British Government, irrespective of US action, to meet the obligations the Court has placed on all countries by:
immediately ending arms sales to Israel and purchases of Israeli armaments; and
speedily preparing and implementing a wider programme of sanctions;
And be supportive of citizen action in support of the Judgment by:
ceasing to harass those who take direct action to promote boycott and divestment in order to help force Israel to act in accordance with international law; and
repealing the Conservative laws that criminalise peaceful direct action.