The World Court said yesterday it would hold hearings in February on the legal consequences of the building of the controversial barrier by Israel in the West Bank. Earlier this month, the UN General Assembly voted for a Palestinian-initiated resolution to ask The Hague-based International Court of Justice - also known as the World Court - whether Israel was legally obliged to tear down the barrier it was constructing in the Palestinian territory. Israel says the 90-km barrier is needed to keep out bomb attacks. Palestinians say the structure, which juts deep into the West Bank, is a land grab by Israel and prejudges a border of a future state. The World Court will open the hearings on February 23 and set a January 30 deadline for the submission of written statements. Meanwhile, the United States backed off its initial harsh comments after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's threat to act unilaterally if Palestinians did not meet their Middle East peace plan commitments. "We were very pleased with the overall speech of prime minister Sharon," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "He reiterated and reaffirmed his strong support for the road map and the commitments he made in Aqaba," a June summit attended by Sharon, Jordan's King Abdullah II, and Mahmud Abbas, then Palestinian prime minister. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Palestinian men pass goods over the concrete barrier separating the West Bank from Jerusalem, in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Dis, Friday, Dec. 19, 2003. (AP Photo / Brennan Linsley)