World - Reuters
Palestinians Seek UN Help Against Israeli Barrier
Date: Fri, Jul 16, 2004
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Palestinians called on the U.N. General Assembly on Friday to press Israel to tear down the barrier it is building in the West Bank and threatened to seek sanctions if the Jewish state fails to comply.
But Israel ridiculed Palestinian leaders over the fact that gunmen had just abducted the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) police chief.
"They should not lecture anyone about the rule of law or accuse others of being outlaws. We have indeed reached the point where the inmates are running the asylum," Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman told assembly delegates.
A resolution drafted by Palestinian U.N. observer Nasser al-Kidwa to demand Israeli compliance with the court ruling was expected to pass easily in the 191-nation assembly. But a vote was not expected before Monday in order to give Arab and European envoys more time to try to reach a deal on changes demanded by the 25-nation European Union (news - web sites) for giving its support.
Before negotiations could begin, however, EU nations had to agree among themselves on a common position and had still not arrived at that point by Friday afternoon, diplomats said.
The General Assembly met in emergency session after the World Court last week issued an advisory opinion concluding that the 370-mile barrier violates international law by cutting into West Bank land occupied and dotted with settlements by Israel since the 1967 Middle East War.
The court, formally known as the International Court of Justice and based in The Hague (news - web sites), is the top U.N. legal body.
Israel argues it needs the combination of razor-tipped fencing and concrete, which is still under construction, to keep out suicide bombers. Palestinians see it as a land grab that would thwart their dream of a Palestinian state.
'WATERSHED EVENT' OR 'POLITICAL MANEUVER'?
Al-Kidwa called the ruling "a watershed event ... based on international law and the ideals of peace and reconciliation."
But Gillerman called it a "political maneuver to undermine the prospects for progress on the ground" toward peace.
Israel would instead comply with its own Supreme Court's "thorough and rigorous judgment" that parts of the barrier required rerouting, Gillerman said.
But al-Kidwa countered that it was "not simply a matter of the adjustment of the route."
"The issue is the removal of every part of the wall that has been built in every part of the occupied Palestinian territory including East Jerusalem," he said.
Should Israel follow through on its vow not to comply, al-Kidwa said, the Palestinians would at some point bring the matter to the 15-nation Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions for noncompliance with its resolutions.
While Washington, the main Middle East power broker and Israel's closest ally, often uses its council veto to protect Israel, "we hope the United States will find itself able to take the right position with regard to this matter," he said.
The Palestinian draft would affirm "the illegality of any territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force" and would demand that Israel dismantle the barrier and pay reparations for any damages caused by its construction.
EU diplomats want it to recognize Israeli security concerns and refer to the obligations of both sides under the road map to peace set out by the quartet of Middle East mediators -- the United States, European Union, United Nations (news - web sites) and Russia.
Diplomats said winning over the EU would bring along up to 25 other nations and bolster a later case for sanctions.
U.S. Ambassador John Danforth said Washington was particularly concerned by a section of the court ruling suggesting that under the U.N. Charter, a state had the right to defend itself only against an attack from another state.
If that right did not exist "when terrorists hijack planes and fly them into buildings, or bomb train stations ... then the United Nations Charter could be irrelevant in a time when the major threats to peace are not from states but from terrorists," Danforth said.
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