Israeli court orders dismantling of wall part

29/07/2008| IslamWeb

The Palestinian residents of two West Bank villages yesterday won a legal victory, after a five-year battle, when the Israeli High Court of Justice ordered the Israeli defense establishment to dismantle a 2.4-kilometer stretch of the separation wall north of Qalqilyah, a report said yesterday.

The move will return 2,600 dunams of agricultural land of Jayyous and Fallamyeh villages to its Palestinian owners. However, the villagers expressed their concern that the Israeli authorities will delay the implementation of the ruling as it did of the 2007 ruling regarding the wall’s route near West Bank village of Bil’in.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague ruled on July 9, 2004, that an Israeli “separation wall” built on occupied territory is illegal and must be dismantled. Those harmed by it must be compensated. The rest of the world must ensure that Israel complies.

The Israeli daily Haaretz said that the dismantled stretch will be replaced by 4.9 kilometers of fencing closer to the Green Line, at a cost of more than $14.3 million. The new route largely follows the one proposed years ago by the Israeli Council for Peace and Security.

The report added that the change apparently stemmed in part from the views of new Israel forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, who believes the government, not the army, should determine the precise route of the wall.

The wall in this area was built in 2003, and residents of several nearby Palestinian villages promptly petitioned the High Court of Justice against it. They won several legal victories over the years: The court ordered the wall be moved closer to the Green Line around Bil’in, Jayyous and Fallamyeh.

In the latter ruling, issued in 2006, the court lambasted the state for having concealed the fact that the original route of the wall, east of Tzufin settlement near Qalqilyah, was dictated not by security considerations, but by the settlement’s expansion plans.

In the Bil’in ruling in 2007, the court reiterated that the wall’s route must be dictated by security, not a settlement’s expansion plans. Despite these precedents, however, the defense establishment initially refused to change the route north of Tzufin.

The report said that Ashkenazi, who was appointed in February 2007, was outraged when he later discovered that the real reason for the original route was not security needs, but rather plans to set up a new neighborhood north of Tzufin settlement.

He told Peretz at the time that he no longer wanted Israeli forces officers defending the wall’s route in court. The route is a political issue, he argued, and therefore, it must be determined by the government.

PHOTO CAPTION

The Israeli separation wall

Arab News