Dr. Dhergam Saif
One of the most crucial components of the success of national liberation movements is the narrative. The war on the narrative is no less important than the traditional war itself because it grants legitimacy to the cause. This is precisely what the Zionist movement invested in before and after the establishment of Israel, attempting to strip the Palestinian cause and its narrative of legitimacy. The contradiction between the Palestinian and Israeli narratives is structural, meaning there is no possible way to reconcile them. Thus, Israel had to strike at the core of the Palestinian narrative and its legitimacy, beginning with denying the existence of a Palestinian people, thereby stripping them of the right to self-determination (and its branches, most notably the establishment of an independent state), denying the existence of the state of Palestine, which ultimately meant there was no occupation (since occupation is defined as one state occupying another), and denying the collective Palestinian identity, thus turning Palestinians into individuals or groups without any sovereign claim over Palestine, both historically and in the future (which would make it possible to dismantle them into cantons). From here, the significance of the Balfour Declaration arises, as it was the first statement to serve Zionist legitimacy over Palestine, taking it away from the Palestinians. The declaration formed the basis for the 1922 Mandate for Palestine (with the text of the Balfour Declaration being incorporated), upon which the 1947 partition plan was based, and from which the state of Israel was established. Every national project requires both a narrative and legitimacy.
The year 2024 was marked by the bloodshed of the Palestinian people as a result of the genocidal war on Gaza, but it was also the year in which the Palestinian narrative regained its rightful place, with the cause of Palestinian liberation once again present across the globe. However, if we delve deeper into this change, we see that the support of the world’s peoples for the Palestinian cause is not only due to the recent war clarifying who the perpetrator and the victim are, but also because it is rooted in the legitimacy of Palestine’s cause and the Palestinian national liberation movements. In establishing this legitimacy, international law and the judiciary played a pivotal and crucial role, and its decisions cumulatively led to an understanding, support, and advocacy for Palestinian rights, after this support had significantly waned and almost vanished following the Oslo Accords in the 1990s.
The cornerstone of this legitimacy came with the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling in 2004 on the Israeli Separation Wall, which shattered the Israeli narrative. The Court established, through detailed and solid legal reasoning grounded in international law, the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination on their land (one of the most fundamental rights in modern international law post-World War I and the 1919 Versailles Conference), affirmed the occupation of Palestinian territories, and dismissed Israel’s arguments that there was no Palestinian sovereignty over the land before and after its occupation. The Court also ruled that the construction of the wall was illegal and must be dismantled for violating international law.
After Palestine’s accession to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2015, the Court agreed to investigate claims made by Palestine against Israeli violations of international criminal law. Subsequently, on February 5, 2021, the ICC issued a landmark ruling rejecting Israel’s claims that the Court lacked jurisdiction over Palestine (citing reasons related to the definition of occupation and Palestine’s status as a non-member state), affirming the Court’s jurisdiction and its right to investigate all Israeli crimes committed on Palestinian territories (including Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza). This decision also paved the way for investigations into Israeli crimes committed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. For the first time in the history of the Israeli occupation, arrest warrants were issued against Israel’s Prime Minister and its Minister of Defense, marking an unprecedented legal development.
Meanwhile, the ICJ issued a detailed ruling in early 2024 (January 26) rejecting all of Israel’s claims regarding its commission of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The Court acknowledged sufficient evidence of Israeli violations of international law, including the likely commission of the most horrific crime in human history: genocide. Moreover, the Court issued three rulings mandating Israel to cease fire and allow aid to reach the Palestinians in Gaza.
In mid-2024 (July 19), the same Court issued another groundbreaking legal decision regarding Israel’s occupation of Palestine. It ruled that the occupation was illegal and must end, that settlements must be evacuated and returned to Palestinians, and that Israeli policy constituted apartheid (similar to the South African apartheid era). The Court also declared that all United Nations member states must assist Palestine in its liberation. All these pivotal decisions vindicated the Palestinian cause, affirmed its legitimacy and credibility, and served the Palestinian narrative, thereby contributing to the formation of global public opinion supporting Palestine and even actively advocating for it (as seen in protests in dozens of countries worldwide, particularly student movements in the United States).
Despite these monumental legal achievements, the international community has failed to implement these rulings or force Israel to comply, due to the double standards and the hegemonic influence of the United States on the international stage. The enforcement of decisions by international bodies depends on the political will of states, as courts do not have armies or executive powers. International courts have performed their natural role in delivering justice, and there is no doubt that they have done so in favor of Palestine, but the international community, dominated by hegemonic powers, has let it down. The continuation of the current international system, particularly the UN Security Council, which holds the executive power for international law, and the preservation of the veto power of the five permanent members (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China) has betrayed international justice and the Palestinian cause. This must change. The American veto has become, in effect, a “license for killing and genocide” in the hands of Israel, a rogue state that systematically violates international law.
It is worth noting that the United States has used its veto power to support Israel 46 times so far, the latest being against a ceasefire resolution on November 20, 2024, despite Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza, which was broadcast live and despite orders from the ICJ for a ceasefire and arrest warrants issued by the ICC. This international situation cannot continue. As I argued in a previous intervention, the genocidal war on Gaza represents a turning point in human history, with the world after it being fundamentally different on local, regional, and international levels. Therefore, the post-Gaza-genocide world needs a new global system to curb the excesses of political hegemonies, in order to establish a balanced and just international community that guarantees the supremacy of judicial justice.
