24 February 2004	Tuesday	03 Muharram 1425

THE HAGUE, Feb 23: Palestinians told the opening session of World Court hearings into the legality of Israel's West Bank barrier on Monday that the vast network of walls and fences would deny them a viable independent state.

The United States urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) not to issue an advisory opinion because it will "undermine the peace process" and "politicize" the court.

Israel stayed away from the UN forum's landmark foray into its conflict with the Palestinians, arguing that the court in The Hague had no right to rule on the case.

The Jewish state encouraged protests outside the court building and cited Sunday's suicide bombing as proof that the barrier was necessary. "This wall, if completed, will leave the Palestinian people with only half of the West Bank within isolated, non-contiguous, walled enclaves," Nasser al-Kidwa, the Palestinians' permanent observer to the United Nations, told the 15-judge panel.

The Hague tribunal will hold three days of hearings on the legality of building a barrier in occupied territory. Mr Kidwa said he hoped its non-binding ruling could pave the way for international sanctions against Israel. The court's 1971 opinion that South Africa's occupation of what is now Namibia was illegal generated UN sanctions.

At stake is not only an international ruling but also world opinion in a case that underlines the paralysis of Middle East peacemaking after more than three years of violence.

Outside the court's Peace Palace, several hundred pro-Israeli demonstrators chanted prayers and waved Israeli flags. Several wore shirts splattered with red paint reading: "The fence saves lives."

The skeleton of a bus, in which a suicide bomber killed 11 people in Al Quds last month, was displayed some 100 metres from the building before being removed ahead of a demonstration by Palestinians.

Police barricades kept the pro-Israeli group away from a small group of pro-Palestinian protesters that included several ultra-Orthodox rabbis belonging to an anti-Zionist sect.

"The wall is state terrorism," said Hajo Meyer, a Dutch member of European Jews for Justice and Peace. The Hague hearings stem from a Palestinian request, backed by the UN General Assembly, to decide whether Israel is legally obliged to tear down the barrier, of which about 180km of a planned 730km have gone up so far.

Palestinians say the barrier is illegal under international law because it absorbs chunks of occupied land, including around Jewish settlements, and causes them hardship.

US PLEA: The United States has urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) not to issue an advisory opinion in the case of Israel's barrier because it will "undermine the peace process" and "politicize" the court.

"The United States believes that giving an advisory opinion in this matter risks undermining the peace process and politicizing the court," US State Department legal advisor William Taft said in a written submission to the court.

"The United States would urge the court to avoid any steps that would interfere with or make this negotiation process more difficult than it already is. The risk could be avoided altogether if the court declined to issue an advisory opinion," according to the statement.

The US has criticized the Israeli separation barrier, but at the same time argued that it is inappropriate for the court to rule on the issue. Washington insists the roadmap for a political settlement - proposed by the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia - is the only legitimate framework for discussion.

SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa on Monday backed the Palestinians' case at the world court against Israel's barrier, arguing it was a de facto bid to annex territory in the West Bank.

Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad told the International Court of Justice that the barrier was "not a security wall. It is a wall to enforce the occupation".

The barrier "eliminates the prospect of a two-state solution" to the Middle East conflict, which is the aim of the internationally-backed roadmap peace plan, Mr Pahad added. -Reuters/AFP