I'm a bit slow with this one but better late than never.
Most of the naive and ignorant anti-Zionists would never believe this to be possible, but last week the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled in favour of upholding a petition submitted by Palestinians concerning the route of the Israeli security barrier.
The area under consideration is in the northern part of the West Bank near the Israeli settlement of Alfei Menashe - a settlement that even the Geneva accords suggested should be annexed by Israel.
Again the panel rejected the July 2004 International Court of Justice ruling.
| The nine-justice panel, headed by Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, instructed the state to review the fence's route, including where it has already built or is under construction, and adapt it to principles which combine both security needs and Palestinian human rights. The Israel Defense Forces must come up with new solutions that would not adversely affect the quality of life of Palestinian residents as severely as the current route does, the justices ruled. The panel ruled that according to international law, an army in occupied territory is authorized to erect a fence in order to protect the lives of its own citizens, including settlers. The High Court based its ruling on regulations of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which constitute an integral part of international law, as well as the constitutional rights of settlers under Israeli law. This decision rejects the petitioners' stance that Israel does not have the authority to build the fence beyond the Green Line and that the fence was being built for political, not security, reasons. |
The Head Heeb as usual has some considered analysis
| The actual route changes that will result from the ruling are hard to forecast in real time. At a guess, however, I'd predict that the route will be changed to hug existing settlement boundaries more closely, exclude Palestinian villages and eliminate the last few remaining loops that completely surround villages. This effect will be especially apparent in the Ariel salient where the planned route cuts most deeply into the West Bank; the revised route will most likely hew closely to the settlements and access roads and leave much more of the aquifer under Palestinian control. My guess is that, after the revisions are complete, the wall will encompass 4 to 5 percent of the West Bank rather than the present 7 percent: in other words, somewhere between the Taba and Geneva proposals. Given diplomatic realities, this will in all likelihood become a de facto baseline for final status negotiations. |
I personally hope that the final figure is closer to 7 percent than 4 percent. Remember that land swaps along Gaza and the Southern part of the West Bank can still be used to make the annexation of the major settlement blocks more palatable for the Palestinians.
By the way, the Media Review Network is STILL using an old, pathetic and incorrect map of the security barrier in order to mislead their poor readers. The MRN allegedly exist to "monitor, analyse, dissect and evaluate distortions fabrications and double standards in the mass media." A little bit hypocritical given their persistent use of the propagandist map which they keep a link to on their front page.
Here's a map of the official revised route of the Security Fence. (The map is according the February 2005 changes...the latest changes have not been finalised.)
It's worth taking a good look at the legend of the map. Look at the key used to indicate which parts of the barrier are the dreaded concrete wall. Take a look...it really is only about 5% of the barrier. The barrier is only a concrete wall where extreme security vulnerabilities exist by Tulkarem, Kalkilya, and East Jerusalem. The rest of the barrier is a chain-link fence which is electronic, not electrified.
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