An Italian court has ruled on the status of the occupied Palestinian city of al-Quds, underlining that the holy city cannot be acknowledged as the “capital” of the Israeli regime.
The Rome Court said its ruling was based on international legal principles and represents worldwide attempts to negotiate the Israeli-Palestinian dispute by taking an impartial position on the controversial matter of al-Quds’s ownership.
“Acknowledging [al-Quds] as Israel’s capital would go against international law and go against Italy’s promises to support peace and neutrality in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the court said.
The ruling highlighted the global stance that the city’s status must be resolved through negotiations.
The Rome Court said the decision underscores Italy’s commitment to peace and neutrality in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, emphasizes diplomacy over unilateral actions, and reflects the complexities of achieving a fair, lasting resolution to al-Quds’s contentious status.
The ruling was welcomed by pro-Palestinian organizations and human rights groups seeing it as a confirmation of the global legal system that upholds Palestinian rights.
They said that declaring al-Quds as Israel’s “capital” without a negotiated agreement “weakens the chances for peace and validates Israeli actions in territories under occupation.”
‘Stop calling it capital of Israel’
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in Palestine, also reacted to the Italian court’s ruling and praised the “important” decision.
“Today it doesn’t rain, it pours. Important decision in the Italian justice system re the status of [al-Quds]: stop calling it the capital of Israel, it is not. And the judge’s motivation is really touching,” Albanese wrote in a post on her X social media account.The United Nations, through resolutions like UN Security Council Resolution 478, has clearly stated that Israel’s declaration in al-Quds is invalid, advising member countries against setting up diplomatic offices there.
Negotiations between the occupying entity and Palestine are expected to determine the final status of the city under the two-state solution framework.
More than 700,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds.
The international community views the settlements as illegal under international law and the Geneva Conventions due to their construction on the occupied territories.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East al-Quds as its capital.
