March 28, 2003	Friday	Muharram 24, 1424

GENEVA, March 27: A United Nations investigator said on Thursday a security wall which Israel says is to protect its citizens from Palestinian gunmen and suicide bombers was an illegal “creeping annexation” of Palestinian territory.

“The wall is being used as a way of expanding Israel’s territory,” special rapporteur John Dugard said before presenting a report to the Geneva-based UN Commission on Human Rights.

Israel’s Defence Ministry this week proposed extending the security fence, which roughly follows the frontier with the West Bank, deeper into the West Bank to protect the Jewish settlements of Ariel, Emmanuel and Keddumim.

“Israel responds that this is a temporary security measure, but I think the reality is that this is a form of creeping annexation of Palestinian territory,” Dugard said.

In his report on the violation of human rights in the occupied territories, due to be presented to the Commission on Thursday, he said neither party in the more than two-year Palestinian uprising for statehood had paid proper respect to civilian life.

But while Israel had real security concerns which could not be ignored, its response was excessive and disproportionate to the Palestinian attacks, he said.

The huge number of deaths and injuries, the humanitarian crisis, property destruction and the expansion of Israeli territory into the West Bank was not justifiable, he said.

“In this age of anti-terrorism measures, Israel has succeeded in gaining tremendous sympathy for its argument that it is engaged in defensive action in response to Palestinian suicide bombers,” Dugard said.

“It is a disproportionate response which can’t be justified on the grounds of military necessity.”—Reuters