World roundup: May 24 2024

Stories from Israel-Palestine, Myanmar, Sudan, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

May 24, 1667: King Louis XIV of France orders his army to invade the Spanish Netherlands, kicking off a conflict known as the War of Devolution. The name comes from Louis’ contention that sovereignty over the Spanish Netherlands and Franche-Comté had passed (“devolved,” get it?) to him because of his marriage to Spanish royal Maria Theresa. She and Louis had agreed to renounce her inheritance in return for a hefty dowry payment from the Habsburgs, but that dowry never materialized and so Louis argued that the renunciation was null and void. The war was largely concluded on French terms and ended with the May 1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (not to be confused with the more famous 1748 treaty by the same name), under which Louis agreed to quit the Spanish Netherlands and Franche-Comté but retained possession of several key northern frontier towns. Those towns proved to be footholds for subsequent French forays into the region.

May 24, 1991: The military arm of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front enters the city of Asmara, securing (as it turns out) Eritrea’s independence from Ethiopia and thus marking the end of the Eritrean War of Independence. May 24 is commemorated in Eritrea annually as Independence Day.

MIDDLE EAST

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

As Israeli officials had reportedly feared, the International Court of Justice on Friday ordered Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive and any other action” in Rafah. The South African government, which has charged Israel with genocide before the court, petitioned for an emergency order to stop the Israeli campaign in Gaza earlier this month and appears to have gotten at least some of what it wanted—the ruling orders an end to the operation in Rafah but does not explicitly say anything about operations in other parts of the territory. Additionally the ICJ ordered the Israeli government to reopen the Rafah checkpoint for humanitarian aid, to provide “unimpeded” access to Gaza for investigators as part of the genocide case, and to report back to the court on its compliance with these orders in one month. Friday’s ruling goes well beyond the emergency orders the court issued in this case back in January, which obliged Israel not to violate the 1948 Genocide Convention but did not order any cessation of fighting.