- JERUSALEM (AFP) -- The Israeli
government was given a double warning over its policies in the West Bank
as its top legal officer said it faced a real threat of sanctions over
its controversial separation barrier and the United States condemned the
latest settlement drive.
-
- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government had previously
vowed to ignore a non-binding verdict by the International Court of Justice
in July that parts of the barrier built on Palestinian land were illegal
and should be torn down.
-
- But judicial sources confirmed Friday that the country's
supreme court has told the government to respond within 30 days to the
ruling by the UN's top legal body which Attorney General Menachem Mazuz
was warning could have "inestimably negative consequences".
-
- Chief Justice Aharon Barak is understood to have said
that a petition filed by residents against one tranche of the barrier would
be "an appropriate opportunity" to compile a written assessment
of the ramifications of the ICJ ruling.
-
- Mazuz was also warning the government not to simply brush
aside the ruling.
-
- "It is hard to overestimate the negative repercussions
of the decision of the International Court of Justice at The Hague for
the state of Israel in various realms, including issues that go beyond
the separation fence," said Mazuz in a report commissioned by Sharon.
-
- "The decision creates a legal reality for Israel
in the international arena, which could serve as an excuse and a catalyst
for activity against Israel in international forums, to the point of sanctions."
-
- In a separate report Mazuz's department recommended that
the government "deploy large efforts to modify the route of the fence",
taking into account the main points of the ICJ ruling "in order to
reduce the tension on the international legal front."
-
- Israeli defense officials have been reworking the route
of the barrier after the supreme court ruled in late June that its current
path violated the rights of tens of thousands of Palestinians living near
Jerusalem.
-
- In contrast to its pledge to ignore the ICJ's non-binding
verdict, the government has said it will respect the supreme court ruling.
-
- Israel says that the barrier, which will eventually stretch
to some 700 kilometers (450 miles) when completed next year, is vital to
prevent infiltrations onto its soil by would-be attackers.
-
- Palestinians however say its route, often jutting deep
inside the West Bank, shows it is little more than a bid to pre-empt the
borders of their promised future state and is wrecking the US-backed roadmap
peace plan.
-
- The roadmap obliges Israel to freeze all settlement activity
in the occupied territories but Sharon approved earlier this week plans
for around 1,000 new homes in four of the largest of the West Bank settlements.
-
- White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice
issued a rare rebuke to Israel late Thursday by describing the new homes
as inconsistent with the roadmap plan.
-
- "We believe that the Israelis should live up to
their obligations under the roadmap ... And we've been very clear that
settlement expansion is not consistent with our understanding under the
roadmap," Rice said.
-
- Many observers believe Sharon's decision to approve the
settlement expansion and risk provoking Washington's ire was motivated
by a desire to placate opponents of his plan to pull all Jewish settlers
out of the Gaza Strip.
-
- The announcement came on the eve of a meeting of his
right-wing Likud party which consequently dealt a major blow to the Gaza
withdrawal plan when it voted against allowing the main opposition Labour
party into government.
-
- Sharon needs Labour's support in order to steer the plan
through parliament, having lost his majority when tradititional right-wing
allies baulked at what they regard as the "forcible transfer of Jews."
-
- In his public comments since Wednesday night's vote,
Sharon vowed to see his project through to the finish.
-
- "I will continue to do what is good for the people
of Israel as I have promised: to bring peace and security," he told
the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily.
-
- "I am determined to implement the disengagement
plan and evacuate the Gaza Strip and the settlements of northern Samaria
at the end of next year."
-
- Labour leader Shimon Peres said that new elections, not
scheduled until 2006, should now be held.
-
- "We cannot accept the country's fate being in the
hands of a few hundred people opposed to the will of the majority of the
country which favours withdrawal from the Gaza Strip," Peres told
journalists.
-
- Copyright © 2004 Agence France Presse. All rights
reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority
of Agence France Presse.
-
- http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid 1515&ncid=1515&e=5&u=/afp/20040820/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_040820100453
|
