West Bank wall divides UN
2003-12-09 09:31
New York - A divided United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution asking the International Court of Justice to examine Israel's construction of a barrier that juts into the West Bank.
The vote was 90 in favour, eight opposed with 74 abstentions, reflecting uneasiness in many nations on referring the issue to the world court, based in The Hague, Netherlands. The resolution asks the court to urgently issue an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of the barrier.
In October, the General Assembly voted overwhelming for a resolution calling for the dismantling of the barrier, a 150km network of fences, walls, razor wire and trenches. But several nations said they didn't want the court brought in, and noted that its opinion would not be legally binding.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said his government would co-operate with the court's expected investigation of the contentious barrier.
The United States and Israel strongly opposed what they called a biased resolution, arguing that it would "politicise" the court and undermine efforts to reach a Mideast peace settlement. Israel insists the barrier is needed to prevent suicide attacks and its construction is purely for security.
Israel's UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman called the vote "a moral victory," saying "most of the world's enlightened democracies" were among the large number of countries that didn't support the resolution while those who voted "yes" were "mostly tyrannical dictatorships, corrupt and human rights-defying regimes."
Arab nations argued that going to the court was the only action available to try to stop construction of the barrier.
Palestinian UN observer Nasser Al-Kidwa started pushing for the resolution after Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a November 28 report declaring that Israel had failed to comply with the General Assembly demand to halt construction of the barrier.
He welcomed the resolution's adoption, saying 90 nations voted for "international law and for what is right - in spite of the immense pressures, and even threats ... to which member states were subjected" not to support the resolution.
"For us, any negotiations are meaningless without first stopping the wall," he said. "For us, it is either the wall or the road map. If Israel continues building the wall, this will be the end of the road map."
Gillerman called the barrier "the Arafat fence," after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
"His terrorism initiated it, and made its construction inevitable," Gillerman said. "If there were no Arafat, there would be no fence."
He insisted the barrier was not an obstacle to a two-state solution but warned that attempting to involve the International Court "is especially counterproductive" at a time when there is hope for renewing negotiations.
"It will severely complicate, undermine and delay, if not halt altogether, current efforts to restart the implementation of the road map," Gillerman said.
- AP