In Hague, Israeli Barrier Proves Divisive Issue:
"The Israelis sent grieving parents and the singed shell of a bombed bus. The Palestinians sent farmers cut off from their land.

They have come for an International Court of Justice hearing that started today on a planned 450-mile barrier of ditches, watch posts and concrete walls that Israel is erecting in and around the West Bank. The hearing, expected to last three days, was requested by the United Nations General Assembly, which sought an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of the barrier.

The Israeli government calls the barrier a defense against suicide bombers, an argument it repeated on Sunday when a Palestinian suicide bomber attacked a bus in Jerusalem, killing at least eight other passengers. The Palestinian Authority calls it a deceptive land grab, a violation of international law and a new form of apartheid that further oppresses Palestinians on the West Bank.… "

"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 today, according to Reuters.

Officially, Israel contends that the court has no jurisdiction. But symbolically, the hearing has become an important variable that could complicate the stalled Middle East peace talks. A ruling that the barrier is illegal, while nonbinding, could be a public relations disaster for Israel.

The Israeli delegation at The Hague said that the Palestinians were using the court to attack Israel for building a fence that could have saved the lives of those killed in the bombing on Sunday.…

The United States and the European Union have criticized the barrier's planned path, which includes the protection of some Jewish settlements. But they prefer to see a diplomatic rather than a legal solution, a position that is closer to the Israeli view of the hearing.

"This is not the place to solve the conflict," said Gideon Meir, leader of the Israeli delegation in The Hague.

Palestinian representatives disagree. "They have no case," said Mr. Kidwa.…

"This is an attempt to de facto annex big areas of the Palestinian territory," Mr. Kidwa said. "This is something that, if allowed to continue, will create a walled-in Palestinian population in two or three enclaves or ghettos."

Israel has challenged the court's jurisdiction in a written submission but has decided not to appear at the hearing. Israel says its only concern is the safety of Israeli citizens.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/perspective/chi-0402220390feb22,1,5556747.story?coll=chi-newsopinionperspective-hed

Qalqilya is on what is known as the green line, the border between what became Israeli in 1948 and the Palestinian territory Israel occupied in 1967.…

a rare oasis of co-existence where Israelis came to buy our fruit, eat in our restaurants and visit our zoo. More than 40 Palestinian-Israeli business ventures…

Then came Sharon's wall--a wall of concrete coupled with a regime of razor wire, sniper towers, trenches and electric fences.

Israel allows very few people to enter Qalqilya, thereby cutting us off from family and friends in 32 neighboring villages and devastating our local businesses. More than 75 percent of our citizens are unemployed and our tax revenues are a mere trickle.

Meanwhile, the Israel Electric Co., which provides our electricity, has threatened to cut off electric power to Qalqilya if I cannot come up with $1.5 million to pay our municipal electric bill.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/23/international/europe/23CND-COUR.html