AL QUDS, July 4: Israel warned the world court on Sunday against ruling on the legality of its West Bank separation barrier later as a Jewish settler and three Palestinians were shot dead.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom both pointed to last week's Israeli supreme court ruling, which ordered the government to reroute parts of the barrier near Al Quds, as proof there is no need for the International Court of Justice to get involved.

The ICJ is due to issue a non-binding verdict on the legality of the barrier on Friday, although it could decide the issue is beyond its competence. "After the ruling of the Israeli high court, it is obvious to everyone that our judicial system can provide an appropriate response to all Palestinian claims and complaints," Shalom told army radio.

Sharon was quoted as telling Sunday's cabinet meeting that the supreme court ruling should be used "as a juridical answer to the web of lies being woven against Israel" at the ICJ.

He said a new route would be finalised within a few weeks in order to comply with the ruling, which found that the current path violated the rights of some 35,000 Palestinians living in the area.

The Jewish state has already made clear it has no intention of scrapping the whole barrier, regardless of the ICJ verdict. But Israel fears that a negative ruling could provide unstoppable momentum towards a UN Security Council resolution on the barrier.

In such a situation, however, the United States is largely expected to use its veto to kill any such resolution. "The court (should) realise that the chances of the UN Security Council actually implementing its advisory legal opinion are about zero, since four of the five permanent Security Council members oppose the court's intervention," Shalom said.

Israel says the barrier is vital to prevent attacks on its soil, but the wall often snakes around Jewish settlements on Palestinian territory, prompting Palestinian claims that its real purpose is a land grab.

A Jewish settler and a Palestinian militant were shot dead in separate incidents in the northern West Bank early Sunday. The settler was killed in an ambush as he drove past Kfar Yabed village, which is close to the Jewish settlements of Mevo Dotan and Shaked, an army spokesman said.

The radical Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an offshoot of Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack. The army also said an armed Palestinian had been shot dead while "trying to infiltrate" the Braha settlement near Nablus.

The gunman was also a member of the brigades, the group said, naming him as 35-year-old Sakher Ramadan. In the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun, soldiers shot dead a young Palestinian stonethrower as troops pressed a week-long incursion into the area to prevent militants from firing rockets into Israel.

The 18-year-old youth, whose name was not given, was hit by a bullet in the neck and died in a nearby hospital, medical sources said. An Israeli military source said troops had fired towards one of the ringleaders of a "violent disturbance" in the area.

And in Al Quds, Israeli border guards shot dead a Palestinian they said was ferrying workers illegally into Israel. Mohammed Nasser al-Shawaheen, 27, was driving a stolen vehicle carrying about a dozen illegal workers when border guards ordered him to stop, a police statement said.

When he refused, they shot him. The latest violence brought to 4,151 the number of people killed since the start of the intifada or uprising in September 2000, including 3,155 Palestinians and 924 Israelis. -AFP