The International Court of Justice has made definitive what has been obvious for decades: It’s about the apartheid, stupid. In a sweeping ruling announced on Friday at the Hague, the Court ruled that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories violates international law and should be ended. It determined that the occupation amounts to “annexation” of Palestinian lands and that all Israeli settlements should be evacuated and the land returned to Palestinians. It said that all Palestinians who had been forced into exile should be granted the right to return and that Israel must pay them reparations for its destructive actions. The court described Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories as a form of racial segregation and apartheid and called for the dismantling of the apartheid wall, checkpoints and other barriers to travel.
