DISMANTLE ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS, PAY REPARATIONS, MALDIVES PRESIDENT TELLS ISRAEL

By Shakir Husain

NEW DELHI, July 20 (Bernama) -- Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has called on Israel to dismantle its unlawful settlements and pay reparations to the Palestinians for its actions after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) pronounced Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories since 1967 as illegal.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, exist in violation of international law, the top United Nations court said on Friday in its advisory opinion in response to a request by the UN General Assembly.

"By recognising the continued illegal presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a violation of international humanitarian law, the Court attests the aspirations of the Palestinian people embedded in their rightful pursuit of statehood and self determination," Muizzu said in his reaction.

"I call on Israel to bring an immediate end to its unlawful settlement policies, and make reparations to the damage incurred as a result of its exploitative and discriminative actions," he said.

The ICJ looked at widespread Israeli violations of international law, including large-scale confiscation of Palestinian land, exploitation of natural resources, forcible evictions, house demolitions, restrictions on residence and movement of the Palestinian population, and violence by illegal settlers and armed forces.

The court said Israel "has the obligation to make reparation for the damage caused to all the natural or legal persons concerned" in the occupied palestinian territory.

It stated that all countries are under an obligation not to assist Israel in maintaining the situation created by its continued presence in the occupied land.

-- BERNAMA