Jerusalem — Israel came under new pressure Friday to move its West Bank barrier closer to the 1967 barrier after the Attorney-General warned of international isolation and the Supreme Court ordered the government to explain its position in light of a World Court decision against the barrier.
Attorney-General Meni Mazuz warned Thursday that the International Court of Justice's ruling in July at the Hague urging Israel to tear down the contentious barrier could lead to sanctions against the Jewish state.
The Israeli Supreme Court gave the government 30 days on Thursday to produce a statement about how the World Court's decision would affect the barrier's construction.
An Israeli Supreme Court ruling in June has already led the Defence Ministry to reroute chunks of the barrier to bring it closer to Israel's 1967 boundary.
In a precedent-setting decision, the court ordered a 30-kilometre section of the barrier rerouted, saying it violates Palestinian human rights and international law.
That section of the 684-kilometre barrier was to jut far into the West Bank, on lands Palestinians want for a future state.
Mr. Mazuz's report could force the government to make still more changes.
Israel has said it will ignore the World Court decision, which it called biased.
In his report, Mr. Mazuz said the government should “as quickly as possibly have its decisions regarding the barrier's route ... comply with the principles set down by the Supreme Court.”
Mr. Mazuz advised Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to have his cabinet officially adopt the Defence Ministry's new route, saying “such a decision will send the message that Israel is respecting international law in construction of the separation barrier.”
Israel says it is building the barrier of concrete walls, razor wire and trenches to prevent Palestinian extremists attacking its towns and cities.
One-fourth completed, the barrier has already disrupted the lives of thousands of Palestinians who have been cut off from their lands and prevented from reaching other villages and population centres.
Mr. Sharon's critics say he is using the barrier to impose a political reality: a final settlement with the Palestinians that would enable Israel to keep large tracts of West Bank land well beyond the ceasefire line established after Israel's war of independence in 1948.
Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war – areas claimed by the Palestinians for a future state.
Under Mr. Sharon's plan for “unilateral disengagement,” Israel would complete the separation barrier and withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements by the end of 2005.
Although the World Court ruling – and a UN General Assembly resolution backing the decision – are not legally binding, Mr. Mazuz said that “it is difficult to minimize the negative repercussions of the Hague court's decision on the state of Israel.”
“The decision creates a new legal reality for Israel in the international arena that can be used as an excuse or catalyst to take different actions against Israel ... including sanctions,” he wrote.
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