The International Court of Justice said on Friday it can give a non-binding advisory opinion on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, rejecting calls by Israel and a handful of other countries to refuse to give one. “The court concludes that there are no compelling reasons for it to decline to give the opinion requested by the General Assembly,” it said. “The court found that Israeli settlement policy was in breach of the sixth paragraph of Article 49 of the 14th EBA Convention: the occupying power shall not deport or transfer part of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies,” it said.
