Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Case Summary

[0:01]In the late 1940s, the United Nations identified a demarcation line that would serve as a border between Israel and Palestine. This border wasn't always strictly honored, which led to the dispute at the heart of legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the occupied Palestinian territory. In 1967, Israel occupied the territories between the green line and the former Eastern boundary of Palestine. Under customary international law, this made Israel the occupying power and made the land occupied territories. Years of armed conflict followed. In 2002, Israel began constructing a wall along the West Bank and around Jerusalem. It claimed it needed this wall for protection from Palestinian attacks. The wall lay almost entirely in the occupied territories. Israelis could come and go through the wall, but Palestinians couldn't. The barrier enclosed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in isolated enclaves. The UN General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice to issue an advisory opinion on the legality of Israel's actions.