- In an ironic turn of events, the international trial
against Israel's self-defense against Palestinian terrorism began today,
precisely as Israeli families continue to bury their dead from the latest
murderous attack. "Sort of like the orphan who tries to prevent the
murder of his parents by striking at the killer and is then put on trial
for assault," commented Arutz-7's Yosef Meiri.
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- The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague,
Holland, began hearing arguments today on the mostly-completed 450-mile
barrier of fences, ditches, watch posts and - for 3-5% of it - concrete
walls that Israel is erecting in and around Judea and Samaria. The UN
General Assembly requested the hearing, expected to last three days, and
both Arab and Jewish groups have sent hundreds of protestors to The Hague
to present their cases. The Arabs of the PA claim the barrier is a land
grab and a form of apartheid preventing them from accessing their lands
freely. Israel says, first of all, that it saves lives, and that if it
were not for Palestinian terrorism, there would be no need for the fence.
It further maintains that the barrier is not permanent, that it affects
both Jews and Arabs on both sides, and that it is not in the jurisdiction
of international bodies to tell Israel how to protect its citizens.
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- The Israeli position can be summed up as "Life is
more important than quality of life," as Jerusalem City Councilman
Nir Barkat, an eyewitness to yesterday's murderous attack, said shortly
afterwards.
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- Israeli officials in The Hague, while not hosting an
official Israeli delegation - Israel decided that sending one would be
a recognition of the ICJ's right to hold the hearing - are busy coordinating
the thousands of Jews and Israelis who came to protest the hearing. The
Israeli officials in Holland received another shock yesterday when they
learned that one of the 8 victims in yesterday's murderous bus bombing
in Jerusalem, Yehuda Chaim, was the brother of one of their co-workers,
the wife of the Israeli economic consul in The Hague.
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- Thousands of Jews and Christians from Israel and around
the world protested this morning in the square opposite the ICJ in The
Hague. At the center of the protests was the shell of bombed-out Egged
bus #19, displayed by representatives of the Israeli ZAKA organization;
11 Israelis were killed on that bus when a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated
himself aboard it last month. Other protestors each held aloft a large
picture of one of the 927 terrorist victims of the past 40 months; eight
others held black signs symbolizing the eight who were murdered yesterday.
The names of each and every terrorist victim were read aloud. Arab groups
were to take the place of the Israeli demonstrators this afternoon, according
to the strict Hague police guidelines.
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- The newly-widowed wife of one of yesterday's victims,
Yehuda Chaim, wrote an open letter to the judges of the ICJ last night.
Published today on the front page of Israel's largest paper, Yediot Acharonot,
it asks them to enable other families in Israel the simple right of "getting
up in the morning without bereavement, without gravestones." Excerpts:
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- "Today you will sit there in The Hague and
will hand down a judgment. Today, I am burying my husband - my heart that
has been split in two. I am not a politician. I turn to you as someone
who has lost her husband, whose heart has stopped - and as someone whose
tragedy could have been prevented by a partition fence...
- "People will come into your courtroom today
to speak, to accuse. Into my home will come people to comfort me - but
I will not be able to be comforted. At night, you will return home and
kiss your spouse, hug your children - while I will remain alone...
- "Don't judge my country, don't prevent it
from preventing further victims. I am burying my husband; don't you bury
justice."
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- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has prepared several
presentations, written and audio, explaining the need for Israel's counter-terrorism
partition fence. They can be seen on the internet at
- <http://securityfence.mfa.gov.il/mfm/web/main/missionhome.asp?MissionID=45187&>.
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- The Israeli Delegation at The Hague released a statement
today about "the one-sided nature of the question before the court.
It seeks to put Israel's measures to stop terrorism on trial, but not
the terrorists themselves; it focuses only on quality of life [in the Palestinian
Authority], and not on the right of Israelis to life itself; and it stresses
only Israeli responsibilities, without a word about the responsibilities
of the [PA] side."
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- http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
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