Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday ordered construction work on the West Bank separation wall to continue.
Sharon said that the building work on the fence will proceed in line with last month’s ruling by the Israeli High Court of Justice.
The court ruled that the wall was, but must balance security considerations against the needs of local residents. Therefore, the court ordered that some 32 kilometers of a 40-kilometer stretch of the fence, close to Jerusalem, should be relocated.
As well, Sharon on Sunday instructed the Finance Ministry to ensure that the costs for building the wall were included in the 2005 state budget.
He also directed officials to allocate funds to implement his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip by the end of next year.
Meanwhile Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided Sunday to set up a team of experts to examine the ICJ ruling.
The team will be headed by Dr. Shavit Matias, an expert on international law.
On Sunday, Sharon told his ministers in the Sunday’s cabinet meeting completely rejected the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling on the West Bank separation wall, calling it immoral, one-sided, and a ‘slap in the face’ in what he described as ‘the global fight against terrorism.’
Sharon used the Tel-Aviv blast to blast the court decision, saying ‘the murderous act this morning is the first that occurred to the credit of the decision of the world court at the Hague.’
The international court of justice ruled Thursday that the west bank separation wall was illegal, work should halt, sections built should be dismantled, and Palestinians should be compensated.
The court decision referred to Israel as the occupying power, demanding states of the world to work in order to implement the court decisions.
A Palestinian official source reacted to Sharon’s comments by saying ‘by rejecting the court decision, Sharon is saying that nothing is sacred but mere power. He wants to act against international law and want all international bodies to stay silent’
‘To call the decision of the most respected international legal body ‘immoral’ is outrageous’ the source added.
When asked about the attack in Tel-Aviv, the source said that ‘while we stand against such attacks, it is only a water drop as compared to Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians, which went non-stop even when resistance groups refrained from attacking Israel since March’
‘Israel’s security can be secured with a wall built on the green line. The question here is why Israel insist on grabbing more West bank land and destroy the life of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians’ the source added.
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