Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the government to change its West Bank security fence because the current route violates human rights of the local Palestinian population by severely violating their freedom of movement .
In it's Wednesday decision, the court wrote:
[The] relationship between the injury to the local inhabitants and the security benefit from the construction of the Separation Fence along the route, as determined by the military commander, is not proportionate. The route disrupts the delicate balance between the obligation of the military commander to preserve security and his obligation to provide for the needs of the local inhabitants. This approach is based on the fact that the route which the military commander established for the Security Fence - which separates the local inhabitants from their agricultural lands - injures the local inhabitants in a severe and acute way, while violating their rights under humanitarian international law.... The route of the Separation Fence severely violates their right of property and their freedom of movement. Their livelihood is severely impaired. The difficult reality of life from which they have suffered (due, for example, to high unemployment in that area) will only become more severe.
The Israeli court decision comes before the International Court of Justice is expected to deliver its advisory opinion on the legality of the wall July 9.
Quote:Israeli Court Orders Changes to Barrier in West Bank
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 30, 2004
JERUSALEM (AP) -- In a precedent-setting decision, Israel's Supreme Court ordered the government Wednesday to change a large section of its West Bank separation barrier, saying the current route violates the human rights of the local Palestinian population.
The government said it would honor the ruling, which will likely effect other sections of the contentious wall.
The decision -- the first major ruling on the barrier -- signaled that the court would reject other parts of the fence that separate Palestinians from their lands, cut villages off from each other or prevent people from reaching population centers.
In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, Israeli troops encircled the northern town of Beit Hanoun, tearing up roads in an ongoing offensive aimed at halting Palestinian rocket attacks. A Palestinian teenager was killed, Palestinian sources said.
The court said the changes in the wall's route must be made, even at the risk of reducing Israeli security.
``Only a separation route based on the path of law will lead the state to the security so yearned for,'' the court said in its ruling. ``The route ... injures the local inhabitants in a severe and acute way while violating their rights under humanitarian and international law,'' it said.
Israel says the barrier is needed to prevent suicide bombers and other attackers from reaching Israeli towns and cities. But the complex of fences, concrete walls, trenches and razor wire has severely disrupted the lives of thousands of Palestinians by separating them from jobs, schools and farmland.
About a quarter of the 425-mile barrier, which dips deep into the West Bank in some sections, has been completed.
Israel's Defense Ministry -- responsible for overseeing construction of the barrier -- said it would re-route the disputed sections of the barrier ``based on the principles set by the Supreme Court, namely the proper balance between security and humanitarian considerations.''
Wednesday's case focused on a 25-mile stretch of the barrier northwest of Jerusalem, where 35,000 people live in eight villages. The fence would separate the villagers from 7,500 acres, most of it cultivated, including tens of thousands of olive trees, fruit trees and other crops.
``To have the chief justice of the Supreme Court say you can't put the Palestinians in prison ... in the name of the security of Israel, that is really important. That is the least I can say,'' said Mohammed Dahla, a lawyer for the petitioners.
He said the court had ordered changes in about 20 miles of the stretch. Israel Radio said two miles of completed construction would also have to be dismantled.
The ruling said the route had ``severely violated'' the local population's freedom of movement and ``severely impaired'' their livelihoods. It described the villages as being in a ``virtual chokehold.''
``For a whole year, we have been saying this and no one listened to us,'' said Ahmed Kandill, a 30-year-old resident of the Beit Surik village.
Dozens of residents of neighboring Israeli towns had also supported the challenge, saying the proposed route would destroy friendly relations between the communities. Many Palestinians work inside the nearby Israeli towns.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier called on Israel to halt construction on the barrier.
``Israel must stop building the wall and stop confiscating land and stop the destruction and demolitions'' of Palestinian homes, Barnier said after a meeting in Ramallah with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia.
Dany Tirza, the army's chief planner of the route of the barrier, said he was ``disappointed and surprised'' by the decision. The ruling will delay construction of the barrier ``by many months,'' he added.
The court forced the government to return land that has been seized and compensate the Palestinians for their financial losses.
The court froze construction of the section near Jerusalem in late February, shortly after two protesters were killed in a stone-throwing clash with soldiers in the path of construction.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia played down Wednesday's ruling.
``The wall is an act of aggression whether it remains as is, or they introduce changes in its route. This wall should be knocked down as other walls in the world, like the Berlin Wall,'' he said.
The Palestinians have also asked the world court in the Hague, Netherlands, to rule on the legality of the barrier. The world court is expected to issue its advisory ruling next week.
In Gaza, meanwhile, Israeli troops encircled Beit Hanoun, as part of a new offensive aimed at halting rocket attacks into Israel.
At one of the entrances to the town, a crowd threw stones and empty bottles at Israeli troops early Wednesday.
Soldiers opened fire, fatally shooting a 16-year-old boy in the neck, Palestinian hospital officials said. Six demonstrators were lightly wounded.
Israeli military sources said the soldiers had fired in the air, but that someone might have been hit by a ricochet.
Security officials said the expected the operation to be more devastating raids in the area, which turned large farming areas into moonscapes, with thousands of trees uprooted.
The raid came in response to the first deadly rocket attack from Gaza, which killed two people, including a 3-year-old boy, on Monday.
In a separate incident, a Palestinian gunmen attacked Israeli security forces posted at the Karni crossing between Israel and Gaza. A gunbattle ensued for several minutes, but no one was injured, an Israel Airports Authority spokeswoman said.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised panicked Israelis in the border area he would stop the barrages with ``wide-ranging actions.''
A new threat from Gaza could complicate Sharon's plan to withdraw from the coastal strip by September 2005. More rocket attacks could undercut what is now considerable popular support for the plan. Despite the pledge, more rockets fell in the border town of Sderot on Tuesday, as Sharon was visiting.
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