Muslim countries and 20 percent of the worlds’ population supported a Palestinian challenge to the legality of Israel’s West Bank barrier. The Arab League and Organization of the Islamic Conference, which represents over 50 countries, told the World Court in The Hague, The Netherlands, that Israel’s security wall cuts into territories where Palestinians seek to establish an independent state.
The Palestinian delegation also received backing from Jordan which took a leading role in Arab opposition to the barrier despite its peace treaty with Israel. Jordan said it fears a destabilizing influx of Palestinian refugees. Cuba and Indonesia, whose own human rights records have come under international criticism, also joined the opposition, and called on the court to declare the structure illegal.
Arab League official Michael Bothe was among the last speakers on the third and final day of the hearings in what is seen as one of the most watched cases in the court’s 58-year history. He warned the World Court’s 15 judges that the barrier presented "the Berlin Wall episode" which he stressed "was dubbed the wall of shame." Israel has stayed away from the trial, disputing the court’s right to rule in the case.
But Israelis, including those who lost husbands, wives and children in suicide bombings, joined the battle for world opinion outside the court building, known as the Peace Palace. Armed with hundreds of pictures of victims killed in suicide attacks and the skeleton of a recently bombed bus, bereaved Israelis were holding street rallies and a mock "hearing".
EMOTIONAL FATHER
Among the victims was an emotional father who recently lost his daughter in one of the many suicide attacks that have rocked Israel in recent times. He and other demonstrators said the 700 kilometers long barrier now under construction was the only way to at least reduce terrorism and save the lives of Israeli children and other innocent people.
"We are here because we feel so outraged," explained Arnold Roth, who represented the demonstrating victims. "Not many people seem to understand that we need to protect our families. There is nothing more important for us." However Palestinian delegates made clear the barrier violates international law. Palestinian Ambassador Nasser al Kidwa told the World Court this week that Israel’s series of fences and walls at the edge of the West Bank amount to an illegal land grab before borders can be set for a future Palestinian state.
"This wall is not about security. It is about extending the occupation and the de facto annexation of a large number of territories of Palestinian lands," he argued. The court’s 15 judges are expected to issue their opinion within months. That ruling is non-binding, but analysts say it could influence world opinion. Palestinians hope it will pave the way for international sanctions against Israel. However the European Union and the United States appear reluctant to impose sanctions because of fears they could further harm peace efforts in the volatile region.
"INTERNATIONAL CIRCUS"
Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has described the court hearings as "an international circus" and pledged to continue the construction of the controversial barrier no matter what the judges will decide. He says the structure is the only way to keep at least some terrorists outside the Jewish state, where people are mourning victims of another suicide blast this weekend which killed at least 8 people within sight of Jerusalem’s Old City walls.
Those killed include the brother in law of a staff member of the Israeli Consulate in The Hague, which planned a week of protests to boost support for the barrier which it believes will keep out the bombers. "Nothing justifies the construction of the fence more strongly than Sunday’s bus bombing," said Israeli Ambassador Eitan Margalit, according to news reports. (Pictured: Scene around the burned-out bus — photo from ICEJ web site).
“While the world debates the fence, Israel buries its dead,” added the Israeli emergency fund One Family in a statement monitored by the Jerusalem based International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) News Service. Christians joined Jews as schoolchildren, rescue workers; residents and blast victims were shown the freshly completed section of the controversial barrier this week. “It is not a political message,” ICEJ spokesman David Parsons told the crowd on behalf of the capital’s Christian community. “It’s personal,” he added. (Pictured: View from inside the burned-out bus — photo from ICEJ web site).
CHRISTIANS FOR ISRAEL
"There are many Christians living in this city that ride the buses, sit in the cafes (and) get invited to Bar Mitzvas," the ICEJ News Service quoted him as saying. "It’s a Holy Land to Christians and Jews and we’re all going to feel a little safer as this fence gets built." The ICEJ aims to support the return of Jews to Israel and assist those in need. However Lola Cohen, a pensioner who lost a close friend in a June 2002 bus attack, warned that nothing can fence out the hostility directed towards Israel. "I’m angry that the world criticizes us for building something to defend ourselves… and hurt,” she told the ICEJ News Service.
In Ramallah, Palestinian Authority officials have come out on the offensive, amid reports that the latest attack was carried out by terrorists linked to their own governing Fatah faction. The ‘settlement wall’ will not bring security or peace to the region, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat warned in a televised address Monday, February 23, an opinion reflected by his delegates insight the courtroom in The Hague.
Daniel Taub, an Israeli foreign ministry observer at the court, said Israel had been right to stay away because the case was one-sided, the Reuters news agency reported. "The silence of the suffering of the victims of terrorism inside the court is deafening," Taub was quoted as saying.
