International Court Rules
Against Israel's WallBy Matthew Taylor
10 July, 2004
The GuardianThe international court of justice ruled that the barrier being built around the West Bank was illegal and should be pulled down.Palestinian leaders today said they would seek UN sanctions against Israel .
Announcing its findings, the court said the "security wall" infringed the rights of Palestinians, adding that Israel should pay compensation for the damage it had caused.
Nabil Abu Rdainah, a senior adviser to the Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat, welcomed the ruling.
"The next step is to approach the UN general assembly and security council to adopt resolutions that will isolate and punish Israel," he said. "As of today, Israel should be viewed as an outlaw state."
Reading the ruling, Judge Shi Jiuyong said that 14 out of the 15 judges had agreed the barrier was illegal, and called on the UN to take action to stop further building work on it.
"The court is of the view that the UN, and especially the general assembly and the security council, should consider what further action is required to bring to an end the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall," he said.
However, Israeli officials insisted they would not accept the court's ruling, saying the barrier provided a vital security bulwark against Palestinian suicide bombers. They argued it has already saved hundreds of lives since building work began.
"We will abide by the ruling of our own high court and not the panel in The Hague with judges from the European Union who are not suspected of being particularly disposed toward Israel," Israel's justice minister, Yosef Lapid, told Israeli Army radio.
The Israeli position was supported by the US administration, which argued that the international court of justice was not the right place in which to address the issue. "We do not believe that that's the appropriate forum to resolve what is a political issue," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
"This is an issue that should be resolved through the process that has been put in place, specifically the road map."
The court ruling said the barrier could become tantamount to an annexation of Palestinian land, and impeded the Palestinian right to self-rule.
"The court considers that the construction of the wall and its associate regime creates a 'fait accompli' on the ground that could well become permanent, in which case - and notwithstanding the formal characterisation by Israel - it would be tantamount to de facto annexation," the ruling said.
"That construction, along with measures previously taken, thus severely impeded the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination."
The European commission said the ruling confirmed the EU's view that the barrier was illegal, and urged the Israelis to remove it from occupied Palestinian land.
Speaking before the court in the Hague had announced its findings, commission spokesman Jean-Christophe Filori said: "We understand that the international court of justice has rendered an advisory opinion on this matter which appears to confirm this view ... therefore, the European Union continues to call on Israel to remove the barrier from inside the occupied Palestinian territories, including in and around East Jerusalem."
Mr Filori said the EU had long been concerned that the route of the barrier did not follow the 1949 armistice line between Israel and the West Bank.
He added that the commission was particularly concerned that the barrier was causing severe humanitarian and economic hardship for Palestinians.
"Beyond the legal aspects of the case, the EU is concerned that the envisaged departure of the route from the green line [the pre-1967 border] could prejudge future negotiations and make the two-state solution physically impossible to implement," he said.
The concrete and steel barrier runs close to the pre-1967 border. However, some of it juts into the West Bank, cutting Palestinians off from their farmland and dividing some villages. Although the court's opinion is only advisory, today's ruling will increase international pressure on Israel, and was branded "historic" by Palestine.
"This is an excellent decision," Mr Arafat said. "We thank the court in The Hague. This is a victory for the Palestinian people and for all the free peoples of the world."