Israel ignores Hague court decision
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Emad Drimly and Saud Abu Ramadan in Gaza
Six years after the court in Hague called for removing the Separation Wall that Israel is constructing in the West Bank, Palestinian officials voiced despair on Friday for the international failure to stop constructing the wall that had swallowed large areas of the territory.
Palestinian officials said that over the past six years, Israel has already confiscated large areas of lands and finalised 95 per cent of the Separation Wall, adding that the wall is considered as one of the most dangerous Israeli settlement plans in the Palestinian territories since 1967.
The Unified Palestinian Corporation to Defend Land and Challenge Settlement said in a press statement published on Friday that Israel had already annexed 10 per cent of the most fertilised and water-rich Palestinian lands of the West Bank after most of the wall was constructed.
The statement also said that 15 per cent of the wall has been built on the Separation Line, better known as the Green Line between the West Bank and Israel, while the entire parts of the wall were built into the West Bank territories.
Jamal al-Imla, director of the Palestinian Lands Statistic Centre, told Xinhua that the wall doesn't only aim at confiscating large areas of Palestinian-owned lands, but also dividing the West Bank into scattered and isolated cantons and restricts the free movement of the Palestinian population.
"The Israeli Isolation Wall isolates around 30,000 Palestinians all over the West Bank," al-Imla said, adding "The wall also causes a series of Palestinian crisis and difficulties on the social, economical and even on the psychological levels."
He added that "the wall is also danger on the eastern part of the city of Jerusalem," in which the Palestinians consider as the capital of their future independent state. He referred to the fact that the wall completely isolates Jerusalem from the West Bank.
Israel says that it decided to build up the Separation Wall to prevent the Palestinians from entering into Israel or in the Jewish settlements closed to the Green Line. Israel said the basic reason for building the wall was to prevent militants from carrying out deadly attacks against the Israelis.
The wall is built out of cements with a height of 4.5 and 9 meters in the Palestinian populated areas, and electronic fence in the areas that are not populated. Israel made the decision to build up the wall in 2002.
The wall goes into a winding course and surrounds most of the West Bank territory. The project of constructing the wall is still under execution and the plans are still undergoing modification. The project was stopped in several stages following decisions of Israeli High Court of Justice.
Palestinian farmers, owners of lands and members of Palestinian and Israeli associations to defend human rights and lands, had repeatedly appealed to the Israeli court to stop building the wall, which had disturbed the population's life and deprived them from farming their lands.
Hana Amira, a Palestine Liberation Organisation's (PLO) official told Xinhua that the international community "is to be blamed because it didn't pressure to activate the decision of the International Court of Justice in Hague and also the UN General Assembly's decision to remove the wall."
"Unfortunately, the court's decision hasn't been activated over the past six years, and there has been an international negligence to the decision, mainly implementing it and taking the proper decisions and not to yield to the Israeli goals," said Amira.
He revealed that a Palestinian-international committee to count the damages and losses caused by the wall was formed. He also said that the Palestinian leadership sticks to establishing the independent Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.
Although Hague Court decision and the UN resolution to stop constructing the wall and removing it are not binding, the Palestinians believe that the two decisions can help them and the international community for more political pressure on Israel to stop the construction of the wall.
Mustafa Barghouti, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative and a lawmaker, told Xinhua that the decision of the court in Hague "has political and legal importance which proves that Jewish settlement is illegal," adding "the Israeli excuse that wall was built for security reasons is just an excuse to swallow more Palestinian properties of lands."
Xinhua
Six years after the court in Hague called for removing the Separation Wall that Israel is constructing in the West Bank, Palestinian officials voiced despair on Friday for the international failure to stop constructing the wall that had swallowed large areas of the territory.
Palestinian officials said that over the past six years, Israel has already confiscated large areas of lands and finalised 95 per cent of the Separation Wall, adding that the wall is considered as one of the most dangerous Israeli settlement plans in the Palestinian territories since 1967.
The Unified Palestinian Corporation to Defend Land and Challenge Settlement said in a press statement published on Friday that Israel had already annexed 10 per cent of the most fertilised and water-rich Palestinian lands of the West Bank after most of the wall was constructed.
The statement also said that 15 per cent of the wall has been built on the Separation Line, better known as the Green Line between the West Bank and Israel, while the entire parts of the wall were built into the West Bank territories.
Jamal al-Imla, director of the Palestinian Lands Statistic Centre, told Xinhua that the wall doesn't only aim at confiscating large areas of Palestinian-owned lands, but also dividing the West Bank into scattered and isolated cantons and restricts the free movement of the Palestinian population.
"The Israeli Isolation Wall isolates around 30,000 Palestinians all over the West Bank," al-Imla said, adding "The wall also causes a series of Palestinian crisis and difficulties on the social, economical and even on the psychological levels."
He added that "the wall is also danger on the eastern part of the city of Jerusalem," in which the Palestinians consider as the capital of their future independent state. He referred to the fact that the wall completely isolates Jerusalem from the West Bank.
Israel says that it decided to build up the Separation Wall to prevent the Palestinians from entering into Israel or in the Jewish settlements closed to the Green Line. Israel said the basic reason for building the wall was to prevent militants from carrying out deadly attacks against the Israelis.
The wall is built out of cements with a height of 4.5 and 9 meters in the Palestinian populated areas, and electronic fence in the areas that are not populated. Israel made the decision to build up the wall in 2002.
The wall goes into a winding course and surrounds most of the West Bank territory. The project of constructing the wall is still under execution and the plans are still undergoing modification. The project was stopped in several stages following decisions of Israeli High Court of Justice.
Palestinian farmers, owners of lands and members of Palestinian and Israeli associations to defend human rights and lands, had repeatedly appealed to the Israeli court to stop building the wall, which had disturbed the population's life and deprived them from farming their lands.
Hana Amira, a Palestine Liberation Organisation's (PLO) official told Xinhua that the international community "is to be blamed because it didn't pressure to activate the decision of the International Court of Justice in Hague and also the UN General Assembly's decision to remove the wall."
"Unfortunately, the court's decision hasn't been activated over the past six years, and there has been an international negligence to the decision, mainly implementing it and taking the proper decisions and not to yield to the Israeli goals," said Amira.
He revealed that a Palestinian-international committee to count the damages and losses caused by the wall was formed. He also said that the Palestinian leadership sticks to establishing the independent Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.
Although Hague Court decision and the UN resolution to stop constructing the wall and removing it are not binding, the Palestinians believe that the two decisions can help them and the international community for more political pressure on Israel to stop the construction of the wall.
Mustafa Barghouti, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative and a lawmaker, told Xinhua that the decision of the court in Hague "has political and legal importance which proves that Jewish settlement is illegal," adding "the Israeli excuse that wall was built for security reasons is just an excuse to swallow more Palestinian properties of lands."
Xinhua