0
AL QUDS, July 10: Israel has asked Washington to prevent any Security Council resolution after the UN's highest court ruled its West Bank barrier was illegal, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Saturday.
"The issue will go to the Security Council because the (Palestinians) can muster an automatic majority in the UN General Assembly," Mr Shalom told Israel Radio, adding he had asked US officials to prevent any resolution being adopted.
The World Court issued a non-binding opinion on Friday that the partially built barrier, which cuts into the West Bank, should be dismantled.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat hailed the decision at his West Bank headquarters, saying it "was a sign that the world supports the Palestinians in rejecting this wall".
"This wall cannot be imposed on us and this wall will ... be removed," he said.
Israel has said the ruling was invalid because it failed to address its stated reason it built the barrier - to keep Palestinian suicide bombers out of its cities where they have killed hundreds of people.
Palestinians say the barrier is an "apartheid wall" that will deny them a viable state and has separated thousands from fields, schools and hospitals. Officials said they would demand the 15-nation UN Security Council take action.
But officials in Washington, which has in the past vetoed anti-Israeli resolutions at the Security Council, made clear they opposed the UN's involvement on the issue.
"We do not believe that that's the appropriate forum to resolve what is a political issue," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan, adding it should be resolved through an internationally-backed "road map" to peace.
In Gaza, a 16-year-old Palestinian girl was killed by army gunfire near the Gaza-Egypt border, medics said. Military sources said they knew of no such shooting by Israeli troops.
Haneen Abu Samhadana was in her flat when gunfire penetrated the window, hitting her in the chest, her sister said.
CALL TO "PUNISH ISRAEL": In the West Bank, Arafat's adviser Nabil Abu Rdainah said the Palestinians would use the decision to push the Security Council and General Assembly - which requested the ruling - to "isolate and punish" Israel.
"It is the responsibility of the United Nations to put in place a mechanism to commit Israel to this decision," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie told reporters.
The head of the World Court, Shi Jiuyong of China, said in the ruling that Israel must pull down the barrier and pay compensation to those that had lost their homes and land.
"The wall ... cannot be justified by military exigencies or by the requirements of national security," Shi said.
The court said the barrier - mostly razor-tipped fences but with portions of cement walls - "severely impeded" Palestinian rights to self-rule.
Israel has already vowed to press on with building the 600-km barrier which is about one-third complete. It says the barrier has already prevented scores of suicide bombings.
The planned route curves around Jewish settlements deep in the West Bank, occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman Raanan Gissin called the ruling unjust and said it "will find its place in the garbage can of history".
Israel's High Court ruled last week that Israel had the right to build a barrier in the West Bank on security grounds, but in a precedent setting decision said parts of the structure must be rerouted to minimise Palestinian hardship.
Sharon ordered segments of the barrier be altered in line with the decision by Israel's highest court.-Reuters
