THE top United Nations court said that Israel’s settlement policy in the West Bank and East Jerusalem violates international law, as it delivered a non-binding advisory opinion on the legality of Israel’s 57-year occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state.

The ruling is likely to have more effect on international opinion than it will on Israeli policies.

International Court of Justice president Nawaf Salam said the panel had found that “the transfer by Israel of settlers to the West Bank and Jerusalem as well as Israel’s maintenance of their presence is contrary to article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.”

The court also noted with “grave concern” that Israel’s settlement policy has been expanding.

The court also found that Israel’s use of natural resources was “inconsistent” with its obligations under international law as an occupying power.

Friday’s hearing comes against the backdrop of Israel’s brutal 10-month military assault on the Palestinians in Gaza. 

In a separate case, the International Court of Justice is considering a South African-led claim that Israel’s campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide, a claim that Israel vehemently denies.

Israel considers the West Bank to be disputed territory, whose future should be decided in negotiations, while it has moved settlers into the area to solidify its hold. 

Israel has built more than 100 settlements, according to the anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now. 

The West Bank settler population has grown by more than 15 per cent in the past five years to more than 500,000 Israelis, according to a pro-settler group.

The Israelis have also illegally annexed East Jerusalem and maintained a blockade of Gaza after Hamas took power in 2007. 

At hearings in February, Palestinian then-foreign minister Riad Malki accused Israel of apartheid and urged the United Nations’ top court to declare that Israel must immediately end its occupation.

Israel did not send a legal team to the court and often blasts hearings against it as anti-semitic. 

But in written comments, Israel said that the questions put to the court are prejudiced and “fail to recognise Israel’s right and duty to protect its citizens,” address Israeli security concerns or acknowledge Israel-Palestinian agreements to negotiate issues, including “the permanent status of the territory, security arrangements, settlements and borders.”

The Palestinians presented arguments in February along with 49 other nations and three international organisations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line government is dominated by settlers and their political supporters. 

Mr Netanyahu has given his Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a former settler leader, unprecedented authority over settlement policy.