VARIOUS: PALESTINIANS REACT WITH SCEPTICISM TO ISRAELI SUPREME COURT RULING ON BARRIER.

Record ID: 400643

  • Title: VARIOUS: PALESTINIANS REACT WITH SCEPTICISM TO ISRAELI SUPREME COURT RULING ON BARRIER.
  • Date: 30th June 2004
  • Summary: (W3) JERUSALEM (JUNE 30, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. GV/MV/CU: INTERIOR ISRAELI SUPREME COURT, JUDGES ENTERING AND TAKING SEATS; PEOPLE SITTING IN COURT ROOM; TWO MEN LOOKING AT MAP SHOWING ROUTE OF WEST BANK BARRIER (4 SHOTS) 0.31 (U3) JERUSALEM (JUNE 30, 2004) (REUTERS) 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ADVOCATE MUHAMMAD DAHLEH SAYING: "The court's
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM / RAMALLAH, ABU DIS AND UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVABWKNTHG1ZBIF433ZNW2D1MY0W
  • Story Text: Palestinians react with scepticism to Israeli
    supreme court ruling on barrier.



    Israel's High Court on Wednesday (June 30, 2004) ordered
    that changes be made to the route of its controversial West
    Bank barrier to minimise hardship to Palestinians living in
    the area.

    The landmark ruling by the three-judge panel came ahead
    of an expected July 9 decision by the International Court
    of Justice, which was asked by the United Nations to
    examine the legality of the network of fences and walls.

    "This route has created such hardship for the local
    population that the state must find an alternative that may
    give less security but would harm the local population
    less. These alternative routes do exist," the High Court
    said.

    Its ruling could set a precedent for more than 20 other
    Palestinian petitions against segments of the barrier that
    runs some 190 km (118 miles) and is to extend for hundreds
    more.

    Israel says the barrier aims to keep out Palestinian
    suicide bombers who have infiltrated from the West Bank
    into Israeli cities and killed hundreds of Israelis in a
    string of attacks.

    Palestinians call it a disguised bid to annex occupied
    territory they want for a future state since it often
    snakes well inside the West Bank to take in Jewish
    settlements.

    The case addressed by the High Court on Wednesday was
    filed by a string of Palestinian villages northwest of
    Jerusalem. In a first for such cases, they were joined by
    30 residents of a nearby Israeli boundary town.

    They protested at the Israeli Defence Ministry's plan
    for a looping stretch of barrier that would cut many
    villagers off from their olive and citrus groves, from
    neighbouring villages and from larger West Bank towns
    serving the rural region.

    Mohammed Dahleh, the lawyer for the petitioning
    villages, told reporters at the court: "The court's
    decision was that the main part of the wall is illegal.

    More than eighty or ninety percent of the wall that was
    supposed to be built in an area of more than 40 kilometres
    is basically illegal because it's not proportionate. It
    violates the human rights of the Palestinians, it puts
    Palestinians in prisons. These are the words that Chief
    Justice Arun Barak used when he read now the judgement. He
    said that putting Palestinians in prisons, even if the
    reason for that is basically to keep more security for the
    residents of Israelis, is illegal. Basically most of the
    military orders, the confiscation orders are nullified now
    and the military commander should now go back and do some
    homework before he starts building or planning a wall in
    that area."
    Israel's government argued that the barrier segment had
    to be built further into the West Bank rather than along
    the boundary to provide a security buffer.

    Israeli foreign ministry official Jonathan Peled said,
    "The court accepted the claim that this is a security fence
    which has been built out of security needs and rejected the
    claim that it was built out of political reasons.

    Nonetheless, a delicate balance has to be struck between,
    on the one hand security demands and on the other hand the
    Palestinian humanitarian needs and every effort will be
    made by the government to abide by this ruling."
    In the West bank town of Ramallah Palestinian Prime
    Minister Ahmed Qurie, who held talks on Wednesday with
    French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, said the barrier
    should come down altogether.

    "I don't think that it is a matter of changing the
    route or not. It has been built as a separation wall which
    has been built on the Palestinian territory. Why do we call
    it a separation wall and a racist separation wall? Because
    it separates between the families themselves. Between the
    parents, between the patients and their hospitals etc.

    Therefore it is a real racist separation wall. Therefore
    this should be fallen. No other alternative, whether they
    should take it or not. Whether they should take it and
    build it on Israeli territories pre-1967 or it remains as
    an aggression on Palestinian territories and nobody can
    accept it," he said in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

    Palestinians in the West Bank say that the barrier
    prevents children from reaching their schools and separates
    family members from each other.

    "This is not the right way for children, for schools.

    It shouldn't be like this. In all families, there are half
    the members in Jerusalem and half the members in Assariyah
    and Abu Dis. It's a huge problem that we need to be pitied
    for, and we need to show people what it's like, so that we
    may be treated like human beings and a route is built that
    is more acceptable," explained one resident of Abu Dis in
    the West Bank.

    "It's a really miserable situation that we've got
    here," another resident said.


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