Jordan welcomes ICJ ruling on Palestine, calls for pressure on Israel to obey

AMMAN – The Foreign Ministry welcomed a “historic” decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday, regarding Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories illegal.

In a statement on Friday, the ministry’s spokesperson Sufian Qudah said the ICJ’s advisory opinion reflects the “international will and law” in supporting the right of the Palestinian people of self-determination and of an independent state of their own.

The International Court of Justice said Israel's policies and practices, including its expansion of Jewish settlements regarded as illegal under international law and its maintenance of a separation barrier that in places cuts through the West Bank, "amount to annexation of large parts" of the occupied territory.

The spokesperson called for obliging Israel to implement the Hague-based court’s decision and end its illegal practices in the occupied Palestinian territories and pay compensation for all Palestinians affected by its unilateral actions.