- The International Committee of the Red Cross has condemned
Israel's building of a barrier in the West Bank as "contrary"
to international law.
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- The aid agency said the barrier, whose proposed route
cuts into Palestinian areas, went "far beyond what is permissible
for an occupying power".
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- Israel says the barrier is designed to stop suicide bombers.
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- But Palestinians dispute the barrier's legality and say
the wall is little more than a land grab.
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- The ICRC's comments come just days before a hearing at
the International Court of Justice in The Hague on the legality of the
controversial barrier.
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- Israel says the court does not have the authority to
hold hearings on the barrier.
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- 'Outspoken statement'
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- The ICRC, a neutral, Swiss-based organisation, has been
observing construction of the security fence.
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- It says that, where the barrier runs through occupied
territory, thousands of Palestinians have been deprived of access to water,
health care and education.
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- It has also caused extensive damage to Palestinian land
and property, the agency adds.
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- "The problems affecting the Palestinian population
in their daily lives clearly demonstrate that it [the barrier] runs counter
to Israel's obligation under [international humanitarian law] to ensure
the humane treatment and well-being of the civilian population living under
its occupation," it said in a statement.
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- "The ICRC, therefore, calls upon Israel not to plan,
construct or maintain this barrier within occupied territory."
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- The organisation stressed that it respected Israel's
right to protect itself and the statement did not call for a halt to building
altogether.
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- But BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says it was an unusually
outspoken statement from a normally neutral body.
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- The Israeli ambassador to international organisations
in Geneva, Yaakov Levy, told the Associated Press news agency that Israel
"regretted" the ICRC's decision to criticise the barrier.
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- "There is a danger that the position presented by
the ICRC will be turned into a political tool against Israel's measures
of self-defence," he said.
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- © BBC MMIV
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3498795.stm
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