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International court to rule on israel barrier { July 9 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/07/09/israel.barrier/http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/07/09/israel.barrier/
International court to rule on Israel barrier
Friday, July 9, 2004 Posted: 5:44 AM EDT (0944 GMT)
(CNN) -- The International Court of Justice is expected to rule Friday on whether Israel's security barrier violates international law -- a ruling that Israeli officials have already said they will not recognize.
Israel says the West Bank barrier is an effort to halt terrorist attacks by Palestinians. In some areas, the barrier is a fence; in others, it takes the form of a concrete wall.
But Palestinians say the barrier is a land grab.
The International Court of Justice, in The Hague, Netherlands, held hearings on the security barrier earlier this year.
The world court took up the matter following requests from Palestinian leaders and the U.N. General Assembly.
Israel did not participate in the hearings, saying the barrier is a defense maneuver over which the world court has no jurisdiction.
Ra'anan Gissin, senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, credits the 87-mile (140-km) portion of the barrier that has been built so far with reducing successful suicide attacks by 70 percent.
Gissin also said the international court has no right to adjudicate the issue and that Israel will not recognize its ruling, which is nonbinding.
"What the court in The Hague wants is that we simply have no right to self-defense," Gissin has said. "It creates a dangerous precedent."
He also said Israel, as it builds the barrier, is constantly trying "to strike a balance between the rights of Palestinians to continue conducting their normal lives and our right to live."
The international court, created in 1946, is the main legal body of the United Nations and is usually called upon to settle disputes between states.
Palestinians: Barrier violates 'road map'
Palestinian leaders say the barrier amounts to an illegitimate land grab by Israelis and an attempt by Sharon to unilaterally set the borders between Israel and a Palestinian state, rather than negotiating with them as part of a final settlement.
The Palestinians also charge that the plan violates the Middle East "road map" to peace, the series of confidence-building measures and negotiations designed to lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state, existing side-by-side in peace with Israel.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei has harshly condemned the barrier.
"It separates between the family itself, between the students and their schools, between the children and their parents, between the patients and their hospitals, etc. Therefore it is a real separation, racism separation wall and therefore this should be fallen."
Israel court ruled barrier must be redrawn
Israel's highest court ruled last month that a section of security barrier must be rerouted to avoid infringing on the lives of 35,000 Palestinians.
The court reviewed a 25-mile (40 km) section of the barrier, and ruled that Israel's government must redraw 19 miles (30 km) of the fence that would run west and northwest of Jerusalem. The court halted construction on the section in March.
"The fence's current path would generally burden the entire way of life in petitioners' villages," the ruling stated.
"The court accepted respondents' claim that the fence was built for reasons of national security. Those reasons could justify taking possession of plots of land in the West Bank."
After the Israeli court ruling, the nation's Ministry of Defense said the verdict would be honored.
"An alternate route will be presented in the areas where the court has ruled and it will be based on the high court principles," according to a Ministry of Defense statement. "The security establishment will continue to do the best it can to prevent terror attacks and guard the safety of the citizens of Israel."
Palestinian leader Qorei rejected the Israeli court ruling as not resolving the real issue.
"I don't think it's a matter of changing the route or not," he said. "It's been built, it's a wall, a separation wall, which is being built on the Palestinian territory."
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