WEST BANK: ISRAELI BEGINS DISMANTLING A SMALL SECTION OF ITS CONTROVERSIAL WEST BANK BARRIER/PALESTINIANS PROTEST AGAINST THE FENCE

Record ID: 400882

  • Title: WEST BANK: ISRAELI BEGINS DISMANTLING A SMALL SECTION OF ITS CONTROVERSIAL WEST BANK BARRIER/PALESTINIANS PROTEST AGAINST THE FENCE
  • Date: 22nd February 2004
  • Summary: (W3) BAKA AL-SHARQIYA, WEST BANK (FEBRUARY 22, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV/SV/CU OF WORKERS CUTTING THE FENCE (6 SHOTS) 0.37 2. MCU (English) NETZACH MASHIACH, DIRECTOR OF SECURITY BARRIER PROJECT FOR MINISTRY DEFENCE, SAYING: "This fence was finished Thursday and that's why we decided we started today the old fence. In this way about 8,0
  • Embargoed: 8th March 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAKA AL-SHARQIYA AND RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVAD8357NHJRQRDN91LKRKRSMW5Q
  • Story Text: Israel begins dismantling a small section of its
    controversial West Bank barrier. Palestinians in Bethlehem
    protest against the fence.



    Israel began dismantling a small section of its
    controversial West Bank barrier on Sunday (February 22), a
    day before the World Court opens hearings into the legality
    of the project.

    Civilian work crews using wire clippers cut into an
    eight-km (five-mile)-long electronic sensor fence
    separating the Palestinian village of Baka al-Sharqiya from
    the rest of the West Bank. Military sources said the work
    would take less than a week to complete.

    Following the erection of the cement barrier, up to
    7,000 Baka al-Sharqiya residents found themselves trapped
    between the wall and an old fence put up by Isarelis
    earlier.

    Israeli Defence Ministry Director-General, Amos Yaron,
    said removing the section of the barrier was unrelated to
    the court hearings in The Hague and was planned months in
    advance.

    The Security Director of the Project for the Ministry
    of Defence, Netzach Mashiach, said the reason they were
    removing the old fence was because they had finished
    building the cement barrier on the other side.

    "This fence was finished Thursday and that's why we
    decided we started today the old fence. In this way about
    8,000 Palestinians will be again connected to the
    Palestinian Authority," Massiah said.

    The route of the partially constructed barrier, which
    snakes into the West Bank and is planned to extend for 728
    km (452 mile), has come under international criticism,
    including from the United States -- Israel's main ally.

    Israel says completed sections of the barrier -- a
    network of razor wire and concrete -- are already stopping
    Palestinian suicide bombers. Palestinians call it a land
    grab.

    A suicide bomb tore through a commuter bus in Jerusalem
    on Sunday killing at least 7 people. Al-Aqsa Martyrs
    Brigades claimed responsibility issuing a statement saying
    the barrier was "a Nazi wall which will not stop us
    attacking". The World Court's ruling is non-binding,
    but Israel
    fears the United Nations General Assembly -- which asked
    for the advisory opinion and where pro-Palestinian
    sentiment is strong -- could use the ruling to lobby for
    sanctions against it.

    Israel will not attend the hearings at the
    International Court of Justice in The Hague, but officials
    say they welcome shows of support -- such as the planned
    display in the Dutch city of the remains of a Jerusalem bus
    bombed last month.

    Senior Palestinian spokesman and cabinet Minister Saeb
    Erekat said there were thousands of Palestinians who were
    now stuck behind a fence and unable to carry out their
    normal lives.

    "Baka al-Sharkiya is confined between two walls, one
    cement wall and one barbed wire. Today they are taking the
    barbed wire. There are 10s of villages facing the same
    situation or being spun (Sic) between two double walls, the
    barbed wire and the cement. The Israeli government will
    understand that public relations stunts is not the answer
    to the human catastrophe that's involving the Palestinians
    in the villages and towns because of the wall," Erekat said
    in Ramallah, in the West Bank.

    In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, hundreds of
    Palestinians, joined by orthodox priests, demonstrated
    against the barrier.

    While 44 United Nations (U.N.) member states made
    written submissions to the court, only 13 countries asked
    to present oral statements, including South Africa, Saudi
    Arabia, Jordan and Turkey.

    The Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic
    Conference are also due to make statements.

    The hearings will be among the most-closely watched in
    the 58-year history of the International Court of Justice
    (ICJ) or World Court, which is made up of 15 judges elected
    by the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council.

    Based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, the court is
    the highest legal authority of the U.N. and was set up to
    resolve disputes between states and to give advisory
    opinions on legal questions referred to it by international
    bodies.

    The U.N. General Assembly requested in December that
    the court rule on the legality of the barrier.

    The court has issued just 24 advisory opinions, the
    most high profile of which was its ruling in 1971 that
    apartheid South Africa's occupation of Namibia was illegal,
    prompting international sanctions and eventual Namibian
    independence.





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