World>Terrorism & Security
posted September 15, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.

Israel's High Court says section of barrier must be rerouted

Justices also dismiss world court ruling, and say fence is legal.

By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

In a decision that could affect the route of the fence that Israel is building between itself and the occupied West Bank, Israel's High Court of Justice ruled Thursday that the Sharon government "must reconsider within a reasonable timeframe an alternative route" for the fence in the area of the northern West Bank settlement of Alfei Menashe. Ha'aretz reports that the ruling upholds a petition submitted by "residents of five Palestinian villages in an area known as the Alfei Menashe enclave."

The panel said the Israel Defense Forces must come up with new solutions that would not adversely affect the quality of life of Palestinian residents as severely as the current route does.

But at the same time the court also rejected a ruling made last year by the International Court of Justice in The Hague which had called the fence illegal under international law. The Israeli justices said that the country "had the authority in principle to build a separation fence in the West Bank, beyond the Green Line [drawn between Israel and the West Bank after the 1967 war], for security reasons.


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The BBC reports that the Israeli justices says the world court's ruling was "flawed as it did not consider Israel's security needs." The Israeli government was already ignoring the world court's decision and has "continued erecting the barrier on occupied Palestinian land."

Reuters reports that Michael Sfard, the Israeli lawyer representing the five Palestinian villages that filed the original complaint, hailed the decision. "This ruling saves five villages from certain extinction." The Israeli defense ministry says it is studying the ruling.

Israel rerouted large barrier segments near Jerusalem last year under court order after Palestinians complained of land confiscation and being cut off from jobs, schools and hospitals. The new path cuts into eight percent of the West Bank, less than half of what was originally planned. About 245,000 settlers live in the West Bank, home to 2.4 million Palestinians.

The Jerusalem Post has an article on the " driving force" behind the construction of the barrier, "Amos Yaron, the crusty director-general of the Defense Ministry." Mr. Yalon steps down on Thursday after a six-year term, "in the shadow of reports that the Americans are demanding his retirement." Yalon, the Post reports, got into trouble with Bush administration officials over "a deal to service radar-hunting Harpy drones that Israel had sold to China."

The crisis was finally resolved last month when Mofaz signed an understanding effectively giving America veto over Israeli arms sales to selected countries if Washington felt its national security would be harmed. The Pentagon then removed all restrictions on US strategic and industrial cooperation that Washington had imposed due to suspicions over Israeli-China defense trade.

On his last day as director-general, Yalon said the barrier would "be completed by the end of the year, except for a few disputed spots in the Jerusalem envelope area, which were still being debated in court."

Meanwhile, Israel's legal troubles may not be over. Ha'aretz also reports that residents from Arab East Jerusalem whose homes were demolished on the grounds they did not get the proper construction permits "have decided to file complaints in the United Kingdom against inspectors, for alleged war crimes."

"We've been planning this move for half a year now," said Meir Margalit of ICAHD yesterday. "We approached British solicitor Daniel Machover, whose office specializes in human rights. Our main charge is that the demolition of the homes of an innocent civilian population is a violation of international law, specifically of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying state from harming the civilian population except in the course of a military operation," Margalit said. "We believe that in a few more years, all of the European Union member states will be closed to those people [who participated in the demolitions]," Margalit said.

Both the Jerusalem municipality and the Israeli Interior Ministry say all their actions were "taken within the framework of the law."