Jerusalem, July 09: Palestinians Thursday urged greater international pressure on Israel to implement a five-year-old International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling against its controversial West Bank barrier.
Thursday marked the fifth anniversary of the ICJ advisory opinion, which deemed the barrier – part fence, part wall – illegal, because most of it was being built inside the West Bank, rather than on the 1949 armistice line separating the occupied territory from Israel.
“The international community has signaled its intention to play a more active and constructive role” in the Middle East peace process, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement sent to journalists overnight.
The July 9, 2004 ICJ ruling, he said, is a “clear opportunity” for it to “act as an honest and even-handed broker.”
“As long as Israel is allowed to act as a state above the law, peace will remain illusive,” said the top official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) too issued a statement, protesting Israel’s continued construction of the barrier five years after the Hague court ruling, and condemning the “international community’s inaction.”
“By continuing to support Israel, or by turning a blind eye to its illegal acts, the international community is contributing to a pervasive climate of impunity,” said the rights group.
The United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told a news conference in Jerusalem a day before the anniversary that Israel had completed another some 200 kilometres of the barrier over the past five years, and that another 73 kilometres were currently under construction.
The barrier severely restricts the movement of tens of thousands of Palestinians, it said, noting that some 85 per cent of it was built on occupied West Bank land, trapping some 35,000 Palestinians inside the “closed area” between the barrier and the “green line.”
Many of them need special “permanent resident permits” to enter the West Bank, while Palestinians wishing to enter the closed area need “visitor permits,” which are difficult to obtain from the Israeli government.
“Life of people in the West Bank and in the closed area is reduced to a piece of paper,” Michael Baily, of the British non-governmental organization Oxfam, told the news conference, referring to the permits.
So far, some 413 out of a total 709 kilometres of the barrier are ready.
OCHA charged that the route Israel was choosing for the barrier was “not necessary to attain its security measures.”
Israel decided to build the barrier at the height of an unprecedented wave of suicide bombings in 2002. It says it is choosing the route to protect as many Israeli citizens as possible, including settlers inside the major settlement blocks.
—–Agencies