Chance: Barrier challenge a test case
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Matthew Chance reports from the Middle East for CNN.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- A hearing to challenge the construction of the separation barrier along the border between Israel and the West Bank has opened in the Israeli Supreme Court.
CNN's Matthew Chance has just returned from the Middle East and spoke with CNN International anchor Hala Gorani in London about the issue.
GORANI: Is this a significant step in the evolution of the construction of this barrier?
CHANCE: I think it is significant because it is the first time this construction has been opened to any kind of legal scrutiny. Remember this is a construction that more or less follows the boundary between Israel and the occupied West Bank, but at certain positions it juts deep into Palestinian territory to include some of the Jewish settlements built deep inside that terrority.
It also cuts many Palestinians off from their farmland, their homes, the schools that their children go to, and this is what these two Israeli human rights groups who have brought this proceeding in the Israeli courts are arguing -- that because it is built on occupied land and because it disrupts peoples' lives so massively, it's illegal, it should be stopped.
GORANI: So what will the Israeli Supreme Court be doing? What will the results of its findings indicate, and how will they have an impact on what people feel about this barrier?
CHANCE: It's difficult to say, because it's not clear which way the Israeli Supreme Court is going to go on this. We've been watching the arguments very carefully. I think it's important to remember that this is in some way a test case for a much more international legal proceeding that's going to be going ahead later this month at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
We're going to be hearing pretty much the same arguments in the Israeli courts from those who support the barrier and those who oppose it that we're going to hear in The Hague later this month.
GORANI: You were in Jerusalem a week ago, and you go there often. What do the people of Israel feel about the barrier?
CHANCE: The people of Israel are very much divided, and I think it's a good point, because regardless of whether this construction is legal or not, it will come down to, I think, whether the people of Israel believe it should go ahead or not, because they have the power to build the barrier or to not build it.
It's part of a much larger unilateral separation plan that's been floated by the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, over recent months that would involve the evacuation of settlements in the occupied Gaza Strip as well as some settlements in the West Bank, at the same time as building this barrier.
And that plan has polarized many people in Israel. Some people support it, they say it's the only way there can be peace with the Palestinians. Others, on the right wing of the political spectrum, say they're against any kind of surrendering of land and any kind of evacuation of any settlements.
GORANI: There is some reservations coming from outside Israel with regard to this barrier, from the United States, other countries. Could this force, as some reports are suggesting, Israel to change the route of this barrier?
CHANCE: I think it could. In fact, the Israel government has indicated on a number of occasions in the past few months that it is willing to change its route, that it has made some adjustments to the path this barrier takes through the farmland and Palestinian towns and villages that it goes through.
Israel is building the barrier as part of a larger plan to unilaterally separate Israelis and Palestinians.
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That will be enough of course to satisfy some people in Israel that they will have done enough to make this as unobtrusive as possible if you will for Palestinians. It's not going to be enough for the Palestinians, who've stated time and time again that every centimeter this goes into Palestinian territory they'll oppose.
GORANI: Also, the separation itself is making it hard for some to make a living, visit family, go to the hospital. On the ground, that's the reality?
CHANCE: That will be the difficult reality for many Palestinians living on the other side of this barrier. But I'll tell you, many Palestinians, most Palestinians, most Israelis as well aren't opposed to the idea of separation itself. It's simply the route of the barrier that's the main point of contention.
GORANI: Of course, reminding us and our viewers, Israel's position is that this barrier keeps out suicide bombers, and that they in fact they've kept some out already, that this has prevented some attacks.
CHANCE: Absolutely, that's the position of the Israeli authorities. They say this barrier is absolutely necessary because of what we've seen over the past few weeks even, suicide attacks in the center of Jerusalem. They say this barrier will keep those suicide bombers out.
