evidence: Top U.N. court says Israel's occupation of West Bank, East Jerusalem is 'unlawful' The top United Nations court in the Hague said Friday that Israel’s 57-year occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is 'unlawful' and called on Israel to cease its presence in the occupied territories, including dismantling Israel settlements there and paying reparations. [...] Israel captured the West Bank – together with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip – in the 1967 war against its Arab neighbors. Since then, Israeli settlers – who call the area Judea and Samaria – have built communities in the region which the international community has long deemed illegal.