Mideast - AFP
Israel given double warning over impact of West Bank policies
Date: Fri, Aug 20, 2004
JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Israeli government was given a double warning over its policies in the West Bank as its top legal officer said it faced a real threat of sanctions over its controversial separation barrier and the United States condemned the latest settlement drive.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s government had previously vowed to ignore a non-binding verdict by the International Court of Justice in July that parts of the barrier built on Palestinian land were illegal and should be torn down.
But judicial sources confirmed Friday that the country's supreme court has told the government to respond within 30 days to the ruling by the UN's top legal body which Attorney General Menachem Mazuz was warning could have "inestimably negative consequences".
Chief Justice Aharon Barak is understood to have said that a petition filed by residents against one tranche of the barrier would be "an appropriate opportunity" to compile a written assessment of the ramifications of the ICJ ruling.
Mazuz was also warning the government not to simply brush aside the ruling.
"It is hard to overestimate the negative repercussions of the decision of the International Court of Justice at The Hague (news - web sites) for the state of Israel in various realms, including issues that go beyond the separation fence," said Mazuz in a report commissioned by Sharon.
"The decision creates a legal reality for Israel in the international arena, which could serve as an excuse and a catalyst for activity against Israel in international forums, to the point of sanctions."
In a separate report Mazuz's department recommended that the government "deploy large efforts to modify the route of the fence", taking into account the main points of the ICJ ruling "in order to reduce the tension on the international legal front."
Israeli defense officials have been reworking the route of the barrier after the supreme court ruled in late June that its current path violated the rights of tens of thousands of Palestinians living near Jerusalem.
In contrast to its pledge to ignore the ICJ's non-binding verdict, the government has said it will respect the supreme court ruling.
Israel says that the barrier, which will eventually stretch to some 700 kilometers (450 miles) when completed next year, is vital to prevent infiltrations onto its soil by would-be attackers.
Palestinians however say its route, often jutting deep inside the West Bank, shows it is little more than a bid to pre-empt the borders of their promised future state and is wrecking the US-backed roadmap peace plan.
The roadmap obliges Israel to freeze all settlement activity in the occupied territories but Sharon approved earlier this week plans for around 1,000 new homes in four of the largest of the West Bank settlements.
White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) issued a rare rebuke to Israel late Thursday by describing the new homes as inconsistent with the roadmap plan.
"We believe that the Israelis should live up to their obligations under the roadmap ... And we've been very clear that settlement expansion is not consistent with our understanding under the roadmap," Rice said.
Many observers believe Sharon's decision to approve the settlement expansion and risk provoking Washington's ire was motivated by a desire to placate opponents of his plan to pull all Jewish settlers out of the Gaza Strip (news - web sites).
The announcement came on the eve of a meeting of his right-wing Likud party which consequently dealt a major blow to the Gaza withdrawal plan when it voted against allowing the main opposition Labour party into government.
Sharon needs Labour's support in order to steer the plan through parliament, having lost his majority when tradititional right-wing allies baulked at what they regard as the "forcible transfer of Jews."
In his public comments since Wednesday night's vote, Sharon vowed to see his project through to the finish.
"I will continue to do what is good for the people of Israel as I have promised: to bring peace and security," he told the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily.
"I am determined to implement the disengagement plan and evacuate the Gaza Strip and the settlements of northern Samaria at the end of next year."
Labour leader Shimon Peres said that new elections, not scheduled until 2006, should now be held.
"We cannot accept the country's fate being in the hands of a few hundred people opposed to the will of the majority of the country which favours withdrawal from the Gaza Strip," Peres told journalists.
SOURCE
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