WEST BANK/ISRAEL: MIXED REACTIONS TO U.N. RESOLUTION TELLING ISRAEL TO REMOVE SECURITY FENCE.

Record ID: 400657

  • Title: WEST BANK/ISRAEL: MIXED REACTIONS TO U.N. RESOLUTION TELLING ISRAEL TO REMOVE SECURITY FENCE.
  • Date: 22nd October 2003
  • Summary: (W5)RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (OCTOBER 22, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/CU: `PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT'S COMPOUND; CAMERAMAN (2 SHOTS) 0.10 2. SOUNDBITE (English) HANAN ASHRAWI, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATOR SAYING "I think the will of the international community has been expressed quite clearly and effectively but again we see the Israeli gover
  • Embargoed: 6th November 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: RAFAT, WEST BANK/ ALFE MENASHE, NEAR KFAR SABA, ISRAEL/ TEL AVIV, ISRAEL
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA12XAO45HY9VCZ59HFKF46DLRT
  • Story Text: Mixed reaction to UN resolution telling Israel to
    remove wall


    Israel vowed on Wednesday (October 22) to press on
    with construction of its vast barrier in the West Bank
    despite a U.N. resolution condemning the project and
    demanding it be halted.

    Late on Tuesday, the U.N. General Assembly
    overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling the sprawling
    network of fences and walls a "contradiction to
    international law" and ordering Israel to "stop and
    reverse" its construction on Palestinian lands.

    Israel says it is a security fence to keep out suicide
    bombers. Palestinians call it a new "Berlin Wall" that cuts
    deep into territory they want for a state. The United
    States, Israel's chief ally, has expressed misgivings about
    the project.

    Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi condemned the
    building of the fence, saying Israel was disregarding
    international law. She said: "I think the will of the
    international community has been expressed quite clearly
    and effectively but again we see the Israeli government
    totally disregarding international law, international
    humanitarian law and the will of the international
    community, and flouting this regard for the United Nations
    and international law by persisting in attacks on the
    ground, by persisting in acts of lawlessness, by persisting
    in building this horrific wall of apartheid and of
    annexation, and by saying that it will not listen to any
    form of legal constraints."
    Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in an interview last
    week that Israel would complete the barrier -- which will
    eventually run 350 km (210 miles) -- despite a U.S. threat
    to reduce $9 billion in loan guarantees to the Jewish state.

    Washington is concerned the project prejudges borders
    that should be decided in negotiations.

    Arab states took the dispute to an emergency session
    of the 191-nation General Assembly after the United States
    last week vetoed a similar measure in the 15-nation
    Security Council.

    Tuesday's vote on the resolution was 144-4 with 12
    abstentions. The United States and Israel voted 'no' along
    with the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.

    Unlike the U.N. Security Council, the General Assembly
    is not empowered to pass resolutions that are legally
    binding and acts more as a bellwether of world opinion.

    The vote capped six hours of haggling between European
    Union and Arab governments over the text of the measure,
    which initially had been drafted by Palestinian U.N. envoy
    Nasser al-Kidwa and took a harsher line against Israeli
    actions.

    Noam Hofstedder, B'tselem spokesman for the human
    rights advocacy for Palestinian rights said "Israel has a
    very legitimate right to defend itself, but it can't do by
    breaking international law. If a security or separation
    barrier is the best way security-wise, it might be built
    but not by making permanent changes on occupied territory
    and influencing the lives of hundreds of thousands of
    Palestinians."
    Resident of Alfei Menasche, near Kfar Saba in israel
    Helva Botzer said: "I live here not because I have to, it
    is my choice. We love this place, it gives us security and
    safety, it's a very good life here for us and the children.

    I think the people (who should be worried most) are the
    people inside the country (inside Israel, cities, and all
    around. The terror comes inside (the cities), if they don't
    have the wall, it is much easier for them to come inside
    the country."
    Shlomo Kattan, former mayor of Alfei Menasche said:
    "I think the Europeans, as usual, think that we have no
    right to defend ourselves. The Jews have no right, so think
    the Europeans. But we think that without this fence we
    can't defend our citizens because the Palestinians send
    every week some suicide people to kill Israeli people, and
    there is almost a quarter of a million (Israeli) settlers
    in the West Bank, and you can't put them out of the fence.

    I think if the Palestinians don't want us to build it, they
    have to stop killing women, children, old people, then
    Israel will stop it. But now we have to build it, we have
    no other choice."

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