UN court to issue Israel barrier ruling

[Oceans11]

This one should be interesting...

If they say its OK then the UN legally approves of one country stealing territory from another country.

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UN court to issue Israel ruling


The barrier's planned route is 640km long
The United Nations' top court has said it will announce its ruling on the legality of the barrier being built by Israel in the West Bank on 9 July.
The UN General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice to examine the issue in December amid mounting international concern.

Israel, the US and some European states declined to give evidence, viewing the ICJ's hearing as political.

Arab states condemned the barrier in their submissions at The Hague court.

Response wanted


Guide to the route and structure of the West Bank barrier


At-a-glance


The decision by the ICJ's 15 judges will not be binding but critics of the barrier hope it may prompt a response from the UN Security Council.

The ICJ announcement said it would "render its advisory opinion in the case concerning the legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the occupied Palestinian territory".

Israel argues it needs to build the barrier - which features trenches, fences, walls and razor wire - to keep out suicide bombers.

Palestinian officials say its creation amounts to a land grab by Israel.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3839437.stm

 

[lander]

Israel has broken more UN resolutions that Iraq.

 

[UncleMoneybags]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>If they say its OK then the UN legally approves of one country stealing territory from another country. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Anytime you attack someone and lose territory, money and/or natural resources as a result that really shouldn't come as a shock to anyone. I'm sure Mexico and Spain were annoyed by the absorbtion of their territory by the U.S. but those are the breaks. Like Kenny said: You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em.

 

[Oceans11]

Not much surprise here.

All the Israelis had to do was build the flipping thing along their border, but they couldn't even get that right.

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UN court to rule 'against Israel'


Palestinians say the barrier divides their communities
The International Court of Justice in The Hague is understood to have decided that Israel's West Bank barrier is illegal and should be removed.
The court has now started reading out its ruling. Leaked reports say it will call on the United Nations to consider what action is required.

Israel insists the barrier is needed to keep out West Bank militants. The Palestinians consider it a land grab.

The court's decision is not binding, but can serve as a basis for UN action.


Guide to the route and structure of the West Bank barrier


At-a-glance

The ICJ began issuing its ruling at 1300GMT, in a reading expected to take more than two hours.

In the first part of the reading, the court rejected Israel's argument that it has no right to rule on the legality of the barrier.

Several countries, including the US and UK, had argued the court should stay out of the issue, warning that any opinion it gives could interfere with the Middle East peace process.

The White House reiterated its opinion as the ruling was under way, saying the ICJ was not the appropriate forum for resolving a political issue. But the court has rejected that argument.

According to a leaked copy of the report, seen by Reuters and reported in the Israeli press, the court has decided the construction of the barrier is against international law.

The current route of the barrier cannot be justified for military needs, the leaked report says.

"The wall, along the route chosen, and its associated regime, gravely infringe a number of rights of Palestinians residing in the territory occupied by Israel, and the infringements resulting from that route cannot be justified by military exigencies or by the requirements of national security or public order," the leaked report says.

The ICJ has said it will publish the official report on its website after the ruling.


"They want us out of this area so that when the settlers come they will have peace."

Terry Boulata


Audio gallery

The Palestinians are expected to respond by seeking a UN General Assembly resolution demanding that Israel dismantle the barrier.

"The international high court decided clearly today that this racist wall is illegal to the root and Israel should stop building it and take down what has already been built of this wall," said Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, even before the court finishing giving its ruling.

The BBC's Paul Wood in Jerusalem says Israel is bracing itself for a hostile verdict.

Israeli relatives of bombing victims gathered near the World Court for the ruling.

The court has spent five months considering the issue of the barrier at the request of the UN General Assembly. It has received written arguments from more than 40 countries.


Palestinians boosted

Much of the 640km (400-mile) barrier is being built on territory Israel occupied in 1967, rather than along the internationally recognised boundary between Israel and the West Bank.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has gone on for too long and been too bitter for any law to solve the issues

Jim, UK


Israeli barrier: Have your say
Palestinians say the network of walls, fences and ditches is taking away their land and dividing their communities, separating people from schools or workplaces.

They received a boost from the Israeli High Court last week, when it ordered the government to reroute a 40km (25-mile) section of the barrier near Jerusalem.

Israel says the barrier, which it started building in 2002, has already served its stated purpose by preventing suicide bomb attacks against Israelis.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3879057.stm

 

[Phaedrus]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
The court's decision is not binding, but can serve as a basis for UN action.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Haven't had such a good laugh in a while. I can tell you now that if the UN ever takes any meaningful action against Israel, someone will have to videotape the news coverage for me, because I will be busy having a foursome with Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, and Naomi Watts -- that being the second least-likely thing that will ever happen in my lifetime, a distant second to meaningful UN action against Israel.


Phaedrus

 

[Massmilwaukee]

Phaedrus,

Cate Blanchett?

 

[Phaedrus]

Um, yes. Cate Blanchett. Sandwiched in between Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts.

And myself of course.

Unless I'm working the camera at that point.


Phaedrus

 

[Massmilwaukee]

Of all the impossible scenarios, Cate Blanchett? Where's the imagination? My bread would be Alyssa and Nicole with some Ashley Judd for a condoment.

 

[PatPatriot]

Mine would be giving naked horsey rides to the Olsen Twins.

 

[Oceans11]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>The court's decision can serve as a basis for United Nations action. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Which is more binding than the BS that scuppered Iraq...

The UN is just a freakshow for the Holy American Empire at the moment.

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US critical of UN barrier ruling

Israelis say the barrier keeps militants away
The US state department has described as inappropriate a ruling by the world court that Israel's West Bank barrier is illegal and should be torn down.
Spokesman Richard Boucher said the ruling - which is not binding - might be a damaging distraction from the roadmap peace process.

The International Court of Justice rejected Israel's arguments that it needed the barrier for self-defence.

But Israel said it would not accept the court's "unjust" decision.

The court said the construction of the Israeli "wall" was "tantamount to annexation" and impeded the Palestinian right to self-determination.

Israel insists the barrier is needed to keep out West Bank militants. Palestinians consider it a land grab.

The construction of the wall is contrary to international law



ICJ ruling: Key points
ICJ ruling: Full text
(ICJ website)
Guide to World Court

Mr Boucher said that while Washington would study the UN court's ruling in the coming days, long-standing US opposition to the whole process was unchanged.

He said the debate about the controversial barrier was a political issue, not one for the International Court.

"We think the efforts of the parties ought to be placed on seizing the opportunity that can be created for progress on the roadmap," he added.

The US, along with several other countries including the UK, had argued the court should stay out of the issue.

The court's decision can serve as a basis for United Nations action.

'Racist wall'

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat described the ruling as a "victory for the Palestinian people".

"We salute this decision condemning the racist wall," Mr Arafat told reporters at his West Bank headquarters.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei said it was "a historic day".


Guide to the route and structure of the West Bank barrier


At-a-glance

"They [judges] said it has to be torn down and we say that we must tear it down," Mr Qurei said


But Israeli spokesmen were quick to dismiss the ICJ ruling.

"I believe that after all the rancour dies, this resolution will find its place in the garbage can of history," said Raanan Gissin, a senior aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"The court has made an unjust ruling denying Israel its right of self-defence."

Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu went even further, pouring scorn on possible action by the UN General Assembly - which took the issue to court.

"They [the GA] can decide anything there. They can say that the earth is flat. It won't make it legal, it won't make it true and it won't make it just."

BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says the real question is what, if anything, will change now that the barrier has been declared illegal.

Arab governments are likely to seek an emergency session of the General Assembly to try to secure a resolution endorsing the court's decision.

But experts caution against any expectation of tough UN action - not least because of the US veto in the Security Council.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3882175.stm

 

[Shotgun]

Proof in the old adage "Peace through Victory". If Arafat had not launched the war against Israel using the West Bank as the staging area for its attacks, Israel would not have been forced to build on Arafat's land. If you want to fight a war, you may lose some property if you lose. Duh!

This was in the Washington Post a few weeks ago:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50910-2004Jun17?language=printer

While no one was looking, something historic happened in the Middle East. The Palestinian intifada is over, and the Palestinians have lost.
...

The end of the intifada does not mean the end of terrorism. There was terrorism before the intifada and there will be terrorism to come. What has happened, however, is an end to systematic, regular, debilitating, unstoppable terror -- terror as a reliable weapon. At the height of the intifada, there were nine suicide attacks in Israel killing 85 Israelis in just one month (March 2002). In the past three months there have been none.

The overall level of violence has been reduced by more than 70 percent. How did Israel do it? By ignoring its critics and launching a two-pronged campaign of self-defense.

First, Israel targeted terrorist leaders -- attacks so hypocritically denounced by Westerners who, at the same time, cheer the hunt for, and demand the head of, Osama bin Laden. The top echelon of Hamas and other terrorist groups has been either arrested, killed or driven underground. The others are now so afraid of Israeli precision and intelligence -- the last Hamas operative to be killed by missile was riding a motorcycle -- that they are forced to devote much of their time and energy to self-protection and concealment.

Second, the fence. Only about a quarter of the separation fence has been built, but its effect is unmistakable. The northern part is already complete, and attacks in northern Israel have dwindled to almost nothing.

This success does not just save innocent lives; it changes the strategic equation of the whole conflict.

...

These new strategic realities are not just creating a new equilibrium, they are creating the first hope for peace since Arafat officially tore up the Oslo accords four years ago. Once Israel has withdrawn from Gaza and has completed the fence, terrorism as a strategic option will be effectively dead. The only way for the Palestinians to achieve statehood and dignity, and to determine the contours of their own state, will be to negotiate a final peace based on genuine coexistence with a Jewish state.

It could be a year, five years or a generation until the Palestinians come to that realization. The pity is that so many, Arab and Israeli, will have had to die before then.

 

[UncleMoneybags]

This entire conflict is like a soap opera only the storyline is the same day in, day out.

Yasser Arafat Hatfield: I'ma gonna tear down this fence. Yee-haw!!

Ariel Sharon McCoy: No, you ain't. Yee-haw!!

 

[GAMEFACE]

Another worthless UN decision. Without America enforcing anything the UN says or passes it's all a bunch of hot air. The Iraq oil for food scam was typical UN do nothing attitude.