By: Garfield L. Angus
September 8, 2026
The question of Palestine remains one of the most enduring and tragic unresolved issues of modern international relations. For decades, the Palestinian people have faced displacement, statelessness, and systemic hardship. This reality persists despite an extensive framework of international law and countless United Nations resolutions designed to protect their rights.
Under the global architecture intended to uphold justice has, it has frequently proven ineffective, exposing a stark contrast between international consensus and geopolitical reality. For over half a century, the United Nations has consistently affirmed the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and statehood.
Following the 1967 war between Israel and a coalition of Arab nations led by Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 242, emphasising the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war” and calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied territories.
Over the decades, subsequent resolutions from both the Security Council and the General Assembly have repeatedly declared the establishment of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be a flagrant violation of international law, carrying no legal validity.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark advisory opinion reinforcing this long-standing global consensus. The World Court explicitly declared that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and must be brought to an end as rapidly as possible.
Despite these continuous legal declarations and overwhelming majorities in global voting forums, the enforcement mechanisms of international law have repeatedly failed to alter the situation on the ground. Under Article 93 of the UN Charter, all UN member states are ipso facto parties to the ICJ Statute, technically binding them to the court’s framework, yet enforcement remains elusive.
Geopolitical Deadlocks and Global Disparities
The gap between international law and its implementation is largely driven by the geopolitics of the UN Security Council. Israel has consistently rejected UN resolutions concerning the occupied territories, characterising them as biased or counterproductive to direct negotiations. This stance has been sustained through the decisive diplomatic and military support of the United States.
As a permanent member of the Security Council, the United States has frequently utilised its veto power to block resolutions that would impose sanctions, demand immediate withdrawals, or hold Israel accountable under international law. This strategic alliance ensures that while the General Assembly can express the moral and legal weight of the global community, it lacks the coercive power to enforce compliance, creating an environment where international mandates are bypassed with impunity.
The Shifts in Regional Leadership
The regional landscape surrounding the Palestinian cause has undergone profound and violent transformations. Historically, various Arab leaders positioned the liberation of Palestine and opposition to Western intervention as central pillars of their national and regional policies. However, the fates of these leaders have varied drastically, from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya and Iraq, they have all been slain, with only the Islamic Republic of Iran, standing with the Palestinians, shifting the dynamics of regional support.
Shadows and Stone: A Cry for Gaza
The borders are drawn in the ink of deceit,
Where the olive trees weep at the soldier’s boots,
And the concrete grows where the ancient roots
Once fed a nation that refuses defeat.
They build their empires on stolen soil,
In defiance of laws the world wrote in tears,
While the courts declare through the passing years
That the land is occupied, a sacred spoil.
But resolutions are paper, and paper burns,
In the fires that rain on the crowded strip,
Where the names of the dead pass from lip to lip,
And the wheel of injustice silently turns.
A cry rises up from the rubble and dust,
A plea to the conscience of all humankind,
To open the eyes that choose to be blind,
And honor the treaties we swore we could trust.
For this is the breaking of human decree,
A systematic erasure, a silence too profound,
As the blood of the innocent cries from the ground,
Demanding the right to exist and be free.
Yet beneath the ash where the smoke hangs gray,
A heartbeat remains in the heart of Gaza,
Sweeping the ruins of each shattered piazza,
Waiting for justice to clear the way.
May the skies grow quiet, may the borders open wide,
May the wounds of the traumatized finally close,
As the river of healing softly flows
To wash the grief from the spirit inside.
Let the law be a shield, let the occupation cease,
Let the children of Gaza look up to the sky,
No longer afraid of the wings passing by,
And inherit a land of enduring peace.
(Garfield L. Angus is a Senior Journalist based in Jamaica.
He is also a Governor General’s Achievement Awards (GGAA) Recipient.)
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