RAMALLAH, July 9, 2015 (WAFA) – PLO Executive Committee Member Saeb Erakat, on the 11^thanniversary of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) opinion regarding the Israeli Annexation Wall, said the opinion of ICJ does not only reaffirm the illegality of the Wall, but also highlights the responsibility that all states have toward putting a stop to Israeli crimes in Palestine.

“International action in accordance with the ICJ opinion is long overdue,” he said in a press release, adding that supporting the Palestinian right of self-determination should be “translated into tangible steps” such as the recognition of the State of Palestine on the 1967 border.

Erekat stressed that action against Israeli colonization begins by banning all settlement products and divestment from all companies and institutions complicit in the Israeli occupation.

He reminded the international community that ICJ opinion reaffirms that the Palestinian right to self-determination is an obligation for all States to realize. Erekat added that 11 years on, the international community has not fulfilled its obligations toward the Palestinian people to achieve freedom.

“In fact, while Israel has continued to build settlements, increasing the settler population from 425,000 settlers in 2004 to approximately 600,000 today, states have failed to take meaningful action against the Israeli Annexation Wall and the Israeli settler-colonial enterprise as a whole,” he continued. “In fact, some States have strengthened their ties with Israel, despite it being a belligerent occupying power in contravention of international law.”

Erekat said that 150 Palestinian communities have so far been isolated in the area between the Israeli Annexation Wall and the 1967 border. Just this week, an Israeli court gave the green light to its army to build the Wall through the Cremisan Valley, strangling the Bethlehem district and dividing 58 families from their land, in an attempt to expand the illegal settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo, he added.

Erekat praised the peaceful Palestinian popular resistance in the areas of Bil'in, Nil'in and Burin, which he said highlighted the “consequences of the Wall and the steadfastness of our people”. 

“The international community cannot simply continue to violate its own obligations. To stop Israeli crimes and to ensure the Palestinian right to self-determination is an international obligation,” he concluded.

M.N/M.H