At the International Court of Justice advisory opinion case last year, I argued for the Arab League, based on my academic research, that the Palestinian people had a legal entitlement to be free of the Israeli occupation without preconditions, and simply because of their right to self-rule – not because they were being treated abusively.

In its landmark ruling, the court agreed. This was a conclusion about the right to self-determination, pure and simple, in and of itself. It would, therefore, apply equally to any form of foreign administration, however ostensibly “humanitarian” and time-limited. Replacing an abusive trustee with another form of trusteeship is not self-determination, and would be illegal.