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| Israel-Palestine |
| High Court: reroute part of it, but West Bank barrier legal |
| 2005-09-15 |
| Israel's top court ordered the government on Thursday to reroute part of its West Bank barrier to reduce Palestinian hardship, a ruling that could force Israel to remove a section already built on occupied land. But Israel's Supreme Court justices angered Palestinians when, in the same ruling, they rejected a World Court decision last year that the project was illegal and should be dismantled. The West Bank barrier remains a source of tension following Israel's completion of its pullout from the Gaza Strip this week after 38 years of occupation. Israel calls the structure a bulwark against suicide bombers. Palestinians brand it a land grab. The planned 600 km (370 mile) network of fences and walls, now more than half completed, is seen as evidence of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's strategy of keeping a permanent hold on large areas of the West Bank. The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision of nine justices, told the government to find a way to reroute a 13-km (8 mile) segment of the barrier already built near the northern West Bank settlement of Alfei Menashe, home to 5,500 settlers. A petition had been filed with the court on behalf of residents of five Palestinian villages who had complained that they were being cut off from the rest of the West Bank. "It has been ruled that the state must, within a reasonable period, reconsider various fence route alternatives at Alfei Menashe while examining security options which cause less injury to the lives of the residents of the villagers," the court said. "CERTAIN EXTINCTION" Michael Sfard, an Israeli lawyer representing the Palestinians, hailed the decision, saying: "This ruling saves five villages from certain extinction." The Defence Ministry said it was studying the ruling. Israel rerouted large barrier segments near Jerusalem last year under court order after Palestinians complained of land confiscation and being cut off from jobs, schools and hospitals. The new path cuts into eight percent of the West Bank, less than half of what was originally planned. About 245,000 settlers live in the West Bank, home to 2.4 million Palestinians. In Thursday's decision, the Israeli court also ruled that the Jewish state had a right to build the barrier on occupied land but only where the army had established security reasons for its construction. The Israeli court said the World Court's advisory ruling of blanket illegality was flawed because it did not consider Israel's security needs. Israel has faced a campaign of Palestinian suicide bombings and other attacks during a 5-year-old Palestinian uprising that has also been marked by fierce Israeli army raids in Palestinian areas. Diana Buttu, legal adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called the Israeli court decision "very misguided". "It is the same court that continues to legitimise the continuation of Israeli military occupation," she said. Israel already had said it would not abide by the World Court ruling and has gone on erecting the barrier, which hugs the boundary between Israel and the West Bank in many places but snakes into occupied territory in others. Israel had boycotted the World Court hearings at the Hague, accusing the U.N.'s highest tribunal of bias. |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #2 "The worst possible thing the Israelis could ever do to them is force them to look at themselves in a mirror." I don't see how, 'moose. There wouldn't be a reflection. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-09-15 14:02 |
| #1 But are the Israelis also building a bunch of anti-mortar/rocket laser systems? It is not enough just to ignore the Paleos, they must send a firm message that "we don't want to play with you anymore." The worst possible thing the Israelis could ever do to them is force them to look at themselves in a mirror. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-09-15 11:03 |