THE HAGUE, Feb 22: Palestinians on Sunday expressed confidence of victory in this week's world court hearing into Israel's West Bank barrier, insisting the latest suicide attack in Al Quds will not undermine their cause.
While Israel has refused to send any legal representatives to argue its case at the International Court of Justice hearings from Monday, confining its arguments to written submissions filed last month.
In contrast, the Palestinians are planning a three-hour presentation at the start of the case in The Hague on Monday, which is likely to include a visual presentation of the impact on the lives of West Bank residents.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said that Sunday's suicide bus bomb near the German Colony area of Al Quds, which has left at least seven people dead, showed that "the construction of the security fence is indispensable".
But Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) legal advisor Michael Tarazi, who is part of the Palestinian delegation in The Hague, said that they were not disputing Israel's right to defend itself by building a barrier on its territory.
"This case is not about whether Israel has the right to build a wall on its own territory; it has every right to do so," Tarazi said. "If the wall was built on the Green Line, we would not be here," he added in reference to the 1949 armistice line between Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Palestinian representatives will argue that the barrier is illegal under the terms of international law as it often juts deep into their territory and that the court must deliver a verdict as a clear message to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government even if it is only advisory.
The Israelis want the 15-judge panel to conclude that the case is beyond its competence, arguing that it is a "political" issue which could undermine the internationally-backed roadmap peace plan.
Tarazi said that he had "full confidence that the world court will. not be swayed by political pressure" and back off from delivering a verdict. "There's nothing in the roadmap that says international law is no longer applicable.
The roadmap's purpose is two states and this wall is destroying that possibility." Azmi Bishara, an Arab member of the Israeli parliament who is attending the hearings, said that even though any judgment would only be advisory, it would be a major blow for the Israelis for the "highest legal body in our world" to declare that it was acting illegally. -AFP
