Press Releases

ICJ to give opinion on Israel’s apartheid wall this Friday

For Immediate Release

No. (E/26/04)

06 July 2004


The advisory opinion on Israel’s wall/separation fence by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will be brought down on Friday 9 July, 15:00 local time.

 

Currently the wall is being built on Palestinian land illegally taken by Israel in the West Bank, including eastern Jerusalem.  The wall is being built around Jewish settlements/colonies, illegal under international law, on land illegally confiscated by the Israel authorities.

 

In advance of the ICJ opinion, the Israel High Court ruled on petitions against the wall in areas near Jerusalem, 30 June 2004.  In this petition it ruled that the “separation fence…causes injury to the lives of 35,000 local inhabitants, 4,000 dunums of their lands are taken up by the route of the fence itself and thousands of olive trees growing along the route itself uprooted. The fence separates…eight villages in which the local inhabitants live from more than 30,000 dunums of their lands.”

 

While upholding that Israel’s wall is being constructed for security and not political reasons, the court ruled that the injury to the Palestinian residents of the lands were not proportionate to the security interests of Israel.  It said, “There is no escaping, therefore, a renewed examination of the route of the fence, according to the standards of proportionality that we have set out.”  The court asked for an alternate path for the wall and also said that “only a separation fence built on the base of law will grant security to the state and its citizens.  Only a separation route based on the path of law will lead the state to the security so yearned for.”

 

Three days before the ICJ is due to announce its opinion, efforts are being made by political figures in Israel and other countries to reroute the wall; make it seem legal under international law; and deny the applicability of the ICJ opinion.  Parallel to efforts at softening the effect of the ICJ ruling, Israel’s cabinet it preparing for the time when international attention to the wall and the ICJ decreases.  Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in a speech to cabinet as reported in the daily newspaper Haaretz, said he believes the Israeli High Court of Justice will approve the present route of the separation fence, which it recently rejected, if after a thorough examination, no alternative can be found that will satisfy the defense establishment. 

 

BADIL which takes a rights-based approach to the Palestinian question cannot but agree with the Israel High Court opinion that “There is no security without law”.  The ICJ advisory opinions, says BADIL, are one of the tools for establishing the rule of law.

 


For further information on the Haifa conference, contact:

BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Bethlehem

Telefax: 00972-2-27-47-346 or [email protected]