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Israel defies UN vote against West Bank barrier
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-22 00:58
Israel vowed on Wednesday to press ahead with construction of its West Bank
barrier despite a U.N. resolution demanding that it be torn down, but
Palestinians called for international sanctions to force compliance.
"Building of the fence will go on," Raanan Gissin, a senior adviser to Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon, told Reuters hours after the General Assembly voted
overwhelmingly to press Israel to obey a World Court ruling declaring the
barrier illegal.
Workers build part
of Israel's 'security' barrier near the Aida refugee camp on the edge of
the West Bank city of Bethlehem. Israel vowed to continue building its
West Bank barrier despite overwhelming condemnation in a UN General
Assembly vote hailed as a watershed diplomatic victory by the
Palestinians. [AFP] |
Israel calls the project
a bulwark against Palestinian suicide bombers. Palestinians condemn it as an
"apartheid wall" that takes away land they want for a future independent state.
Gissin said Israel was not surprised by the non-binding U.N. decision,
calling it a "tyranny of the majority" in the General Assembly, where sentiment
often runs against the Jewish state.
The vote was 150 in favor of the Palestinian-sponsored resolution to six
against, including Israel's main ally, the United States, and 10 abstentions.
All 25 European Union voted in favor of the measure -- a move which one
senior Israeli official called disappointing.
Nabil Abu Rdainah, an aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, hailed the
General Assembly's decision as a "victory for the Palestinian people" and called
for sanctions to enforce it.
"The U.N. Security Council must now take steps to implement the General
Assembly's decision to remove the wall," he said.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit echoed the Palestinian call for
action, urging the United Nations and the international community to "bear their
responsibility."
The resolution, like the World Court ruling, is not legally binding but
carries symbolic weight. Only the 15-nation Security Council can take action
against Israel, but as a permanent member, the United States would be certain to
veto it.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY ACTS
The World Court ruled earlier this month that construction of the 370-mile
barrier, which is about a third built and cuts into West Bank land captured by
Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, violated international humanitarian law.
But Israel, backed by the United States, flatly rejected the ruling by the
U.N.'s highest tribunal.
Israeli soldiers secure a
bulldozer demolishing Palestinian shops in the West Bank village of
Bartaa. Israel started taking down structures in the village in order to
clear way for a part of its seperation barrier which will divide this
village in two. [AFP] |
"Israel will not stop
building (the barrier) or abdicate its inalienable right to self-defense,"
Gissin said on Wednesday.
But he reaffirmed the government's intention to reroute the barrier in line
with a recent Israeli High Court order to minimize hardships to Palestinians.
The U.N. resolution demanded Israel comply with the World Court finding it
was legally obliged to dismantle the barrier and pay reparations for damages
caused during construction.
But under a concession to the EU after intense negotiations, the measure also
condemned all acts of terrorism and urged both Israel and the Palestinians to
meet obligations under the U.S.-backed "road map" to peace, now stalled by
violence.
Australia, which voted against the measure, said it backed Israel's
construction of the barrier but that the structure should not cross into
occupied territories.
"Israel must find ways of defending itself against terrorists," Foreign
Minister Alexander Downer said in Canberra.
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