"We have full confidence in the fairness of the court," Nabil Abu Rudeina, Arafat's chief advisor, told AFP, referring to the hearings that open Monday at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague (news - web sites).
Israel "is fighting without doubt a lost cause because it cannot build (a barrier) on the territory of another and it thus patently violates international laws and conventions," he said.
At a meeting late Friday, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) and the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (news - web sites) (PLO) reviewed the latest preparations for the ICJ hearing and protest plans in the territories.
"The meeting examined the preparations underway to mark a national day of protest against the barrier on February 23," a statement issued after the meeting said.
The participants also studied the positions expressed by several countries and international organizations about the barrier Israel is building, "notably that of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which considers the wall illegal," it said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Wednesday sharply criticized the Israeli barrier, saying it violated international humanitarian law because it impinges on the occupied territories in the West Bank, causing serious humanitarian and economic consequences for thousands of Palestinians.
Israel plans to boycott the ICJ hearings by not sending any legal representatives.
Massive protests were scheduled in the Palestinian territories Monday, declared a national day of "rage and protest" against the barrier that does not follow the "Green Line" between Israel and the West Bank established at the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, often jutting deep into the West Bank.
Arafat was to deliver a speech timed to coincide with the opening of the ICJ hearing, after which sirens were to sound, church bells toll, and all traffic come to a standstill for five minutes.
According to news reports, Israel plans to dismantle, beginning Sunday, part of the barrier that encircles a Palestinian area in the northern West Bank. The reports could not be officially confirmed.
Eight kilometers (five miles) long, the section slated for removal isolates the village of Baqa Al-Sharqiya from the rest of the West Bank, according to Channel 10, a private Israeli television channel.
A barrier that separates the village from Israeli territory will remain in place but a door will be opened to allow passage between the village and the Israeli village of Baqa Al-Gharbiya, the TV channel said.
The cost of dismantling the barrier section is eight million dollars -- or a million dollars per kilometer, it said.
Israel argues the separation barrier is necessary to stop the infiltration of Palestinian suicide bombers.
But the Palestinians say the barrier is a land grab for entire sections of the West Bank intended to pre-empt the borders of their promised future state.
The UN court, often referred to as the world court, said 16 parties were scheduled to speak at the hearings, notably the Palestinians on Monday morning.
Forty-four others have filed written submissions, including Israel, the United States and several European Union (news - web sites) members, which will also be taken into account before the court comes to a final, non-binding advisory opinion.
Meanwhile, Palestinian medical and security sources said a Palestinian had been killed by the Israeli army early Saturday near the security barrier separating the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) from Israel.
Osama Yussef al-Maghari, 33, was hit in the chest in an area east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip and died several hours later, the sources said.
An army spokeswoman confirmed that soldiers had fired on and hit a "suspect" Palestinian who was approaching the fence and was only metres (yards) away from it in a prohibited zone.
Maghari's death brings to 3,769 the number of people killed since the September 2000 outbreak of the Palestinian uprising, including 2,826 Palestinians and 875 Israelis.
