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Arab nations want UN to pressure Israel on barrier
UNITED NATIONS - Arab states on Monday called for an emergency session of the UN General Assembly to demand that Israel comply with a World Court ruling that the West Bank separation fence is illegal and must be dismantled.
The Arab Group of governments at the United Nations called on the 191-nation assembly to meet on Friday to take up a draft resolution seeking to implement last week's ruling.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague said in an "advisory opinion" last Friday that the planned 600-km barrier violates international law by cutting deep into West Bank land.
The court said Israel must pay reparations to Palestinians for damage caused by the barrier's construction on Palestinian lands and suggested that both the General Assembly and the Security Council consider further action to ensure Israeli compliance with its opinion.
General Assembly resolutions do not carry the weight of international law and so cannot threaten non-complying nations with sanctions, as can measures adopted by the 15-nation UN Security Council.
But the Palestinian UN observer, Nasser al-Kidwa, said the Palestinians would wait before taking their case to the Security Council in search of "additional measures to be taken to end the current illegal situation."
He denied the delay was intended to put off a council debate until after the November 2 U.S. elections, as some Palestinian officials have said.
"The timing will depend on the developments on the ground and how much progress we are achieving in terms of compliance, or lack of it," al-Kidwa told reporters.
A Palestinian draft resolution, obtained by Reuters, would ask the General Assembly to reaffirm "the illegality of any territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force" and would demand that Israel "comply with its legal obligations as determined in the advisory opinion."
It would also ask Switzerland, as keeper of the Fourth Geneva Convention, to convene a meeting of parties to the treaty to ensure it was being observed.
The 1949 pact deals with the protection of civilians in time of war. A key provision bars governments from building settlements on land they acquire through the use of force.
Al-Kidwa dismissed Israeli statements that the World Court ruling could be ignored because it was merely "advisory."
"The debate now is over the implementation of the legal opinion: how we stop the construction, and how we remove the existing parts, and how we ensure that reparations are paid to the concerned Palestinians," he said.
Israel says the barrier - a combination of razor-tipped fencing and concrete wall that is still under construction - is temporary and is needed to keep out suicide bombers who have killed more than 400 Israelis in the past three years.
The court said Israel had a right and a duty to protect its citizens from suicide attacks but could have done so with a wall built on Israeli, rather than on occupied, land.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/450834.html
The International Court of Justice in The Hague said in an "advisory opinion" last Friday that the planned 600-km barrier violates international law by cutting deep into West Bank land.
The court said Israel must pay reparations to Palestinians for damage caused by the barrier's construction on Palestinian lands and suggested that both the General Assembly and the Security Council consider further action to ensure Israeli compliance with its opinion.
General Assembly resolutions do not carry the weight of international law and so cannot threaten non-complying nations with sanctions, as can measures adopted by the 15-nation UN Security Council.
But the Palestinian UN observer, Nasser al-Kidwa, said the Palestinians would wait before taking their case to the Security Council in search of "additional measures to be taken to end the current illegal situation."
He denied the delay was intended to put off a council debate until after the November 2 U.S. elections, as some Palestinian officials have said.
"The timing will depend on the developments on the ground and how much progress we are achieving in terms of compliance, or lack of it," al-Kidwa told reporters.
A Palestinian draft resolution, obtained by Reuters, would ask the General Assembly to reaffirm "the illegality of any territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force" and would demand that Israel "comply with its legal obligations as determined in the advisory opinion."
It would also ask Switzerland, as keeper of the Fourth Geneva Convention, to convene a meeting of parties to the treaty to ensure it was being observed.
The 1949 pact deals with the protection of civilians in time of war. A key provision bars governments from building settlements on land they acquire through the use of force.
Al-Kidwa dismissed Israeli statements that the World Court ruling could be ignored because it was merely "advisory."
"The debate now is over the implementation of the legal opinion: how we stop the construction, and how we remove the existing parts, and how we ensure that reparations are paid to the concerned Palestinians," he said.
Israel says the barrier - a combination of razor-tipped fencing and concrete wall that is still under construction - is temporary and is needed to keep out suicide bombers who have killed more than 400 Israelis in the past three years.
The court said Israel had a right and a duty to protect its citizens from suicide attacks but could have done so with a wall built on Israeli, rather than on occupied, land.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/450834.html
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