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July 16, 2004/Tamuz 27 5764, Vol. 56, No. 43
Israel rejects court ruling
LESLIE SUSSER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - The Jews were outraged, perhaps, but not surprised.
For months, Israel had been bracing for a negative ruling on its West Bank security barrier from the Inter-national Court of Justice at The Hague and on July 9 it came - with no criticism of the Palestinian terrorist onslaught that prompted Israel to build the fence.
Israeli officials rejected the ruling that the barrier is illegal and said they had no intention of dismantling it.
Though it's only partially complete, the fence already has saved thousands of lives, they say, pointing to statistics that show a dramatic decrease in Israeli casualties since construction of the fence began.
American Jewish officials were outraged by the ruling on the fence.
The struggle now moves from The Hague to the U.N. General Assembly and the Security Council in New York.
Palestinian Authority officials, who hailed the July 9 ruling as "historic," said they were determined to bring the matter to the United Nations, where they will seek sanctions against Israel. Any such move is almost certain to encounter an American veto in the Security Council.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met Sunday with his Cabinet and top advisers to discuss Israel's next moves.
The main focus for Israel now will be limiting damage in the General Assembly and preventing any operative steps by the Security Council. The challenge will be to get as many Western countries as possible to oppose a sharply worded anti-Israel resolution in the General Assembly, or action in the Security Council.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom discussed the issue with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell during a recent visit to Washington, and Shalom reportedly was reassured.
In White House comments after the court ruling, spokesman Jim McLelland hinted that the United States did not consider the United Nations an appropriate forum for resolving the fence issue. It was, he said, a political problem that should be resolved in an Israeli-Palestinian political process that already exists.
In its non-binding advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice, a U.N. body, ruled that the barrier contravenes international law, that parts of it built on Palestinian land must be dismantled and that Pal-estinians whose land was confiscated must be com-pensated.
The court said that the barrier could impede the Palestinians' 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 characterization by Israel, it would be tantamount to de facto annexation," the court said.
But Israel argues that the fence is a legitimate means of self-defense and that the court had no jurisdiction to rule on what is essentially a political conflict.
Leslie Susser is the diplomatic correspondent for The Jerusalem Report.
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