Israel shortens West Bank wall
2004-02-26 08:59
Jerusalem - Israel is to shorten the route of its West Bank separation barrier by about 80km, military sources said on Wednesday, as world court hearings on the legality of the controversial project drew to a close.
The Israeli decision to shorten the length of the barrier marked the second time it has done so in four days and was clearly timed to coincide with hearings on its legality at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague that closed on Wednesday.
"We have decided to shorten the length of the fence by 80 kilometres" in the northern West Bank, one military source said, pointing out the move will reduce its overall length to 640km.
Earlier this week, Israeli troops began dismantling an eight-kilometre section of the barrier that encloses the Palestinian town of Baka al-Sharkiya, inside an enclave also in the northern West Bank.
According to the military sources, troops will remove another kilometre-long section which lies to the east of Qalqilia to ease travelling conditions for Palestinians.
Another 20km stretch, planned to run between the villages of Al-Mutilla and Taysir in the northeastern corner of the West Bank, is also to be scrapped.
Israel will likewise call off plans to dig a series of trenches to the northwest of Jerusalem that would have fenced off thousands of Palestinians into a complex network of enclaves.
Fertile land
But at the same time troops worked for the second day in a row on a 42km section in the village of Beit Furik, south of Ramallah, sparking clashes with residents who tried to stop fertile land being razed.
Meanwhile, deliberations in The Hague over the controversial barrier drew to a close after the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference testified against the project.
The Israeli government has boycotted the ICJ hearings, though it has made written submissions, arguing the case is beyond the court's competence.
The UN General Assembly called on the ICJ in December to give an opinion on the legality of the barrier. No date has been set for the court to release its findings, although any verdict will be merely advisory.
An intricate montage of barbed-wire fences, deep trenches and towering concrete walls, the controversial barrier often juts deep into Palestinian territory, cutting local residents off from schools, hospitals and places of work.
Israel says its purpose is to prevent infiltrations by Palestinian militants, but the Palestinians view it as a blatant landgrab and an attempt to pre-empt the border of their promised future state.