JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel is rerouting its West Bank barrier to move it closer to the 1967 pre-war boundary, but it will still jut into the occupied territory to encircle major Jewish settlements, a Defense Ministry official said Thursday. The disclosure of the fence's new route by Nezah Mashiah, head of the barrier project in the Defense Ministry, was a sign that recent international and domestic challenges would not deter Israel from keeping Jewish settlement blocs on the "Israeli side" of the barrier.
The Netherlands-based International Court of Justice and a U.N. General Assembly resolution called on Israel to tear down the wall, and the Israeli Supreme Court ordered a repositioning of a key section. Israel says it will ignore the International Court ruling and the U.N. resolution. But the Defense Ministry has drawn up a new map for the barrier that heeds the Israeli Supreme Court's order to reduce hardships for Palestinians. The new route runs closer to Israel's pre-1967 border, known as the Green Line.
Mashiah told Israel Radio that the new route would be closer to the Green Line but said it would put the Jewish settlement bloc of Gush Etzion - home to 40,000 Israelis - on the "Israeli side" of the barrier. "Within the framework of changes following the Supreme Court decision, there is certainly movement in the direction of the Green Line," Mashiah said. Mashiah stressed that the barrier would not run exactly along the Green Line, a cease-fire line from the 1948-49 war that followed Israel's creation. Israel does not recognize it as a border.
Speaking at a party meeting in Tel Aviv on Thursday, Sharon said the United States backs Israeli policy about the settlements. "The U.S. position is that the large settlement blocs would remain under Israeli control, and the rest of the West Bank would be open to negotiations," he said.
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