More than 80 cross-party lawmakers and peers have written to the foreign secretary to demand that the UK impose sanctions on Israel and take further action in response to the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) advisory opinion on Tel Aviv’s occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).
“We write ahead of the second anniversary of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ’s) landmark Advisory Opinion on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, issued on July 19, 2024.”
“We urge the government to impose sanctions and other concrete measures to uphold its legal obligations under this ruling and wider international law,” the parliamentarians wrote in the letter addressed to Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.
It said the ICJ found Israel’s continued presence in the OPT to be unlawful and called for it to end its presence “as rapidly as possible” while ceasing all new settlement activity.
It argues that two years later, Israel has failed to comply with the ruling and has instead expanded its actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
“These examples underline how, without much bolder action, the Israeli Government will continue to simply ignore the words of condemnation from political leaders and governments and deepen its illegal occupation,” it said.
Citing the ICJ’s advisory opinion, the letter states, “All States have an obligation not to recognise this illegal situation and ‘not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory’.”
