International hearings begin on West Bank barrier

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CNN) -- The International Court of Justice began hearings Monday to consider whether the barrier Israel is building near its border with the West Bank violates international law.

The hearings, expected to last three days, follow requests from Palestinian leaders and the U.N. General Assembly that the world court consider the bitterly disputed matter and provide an opinion. A decision is expected within a few months.

Israel calls the long, winding barrier, which juts into sections of the West Bank, a necessity to protect its citizens from Palestinian terrorism that has claimed hundreds of lives -- including eight in a bus bombing Sunday.

The Palestinians say the barrier amounts to an illegal land grab of Palestinian territory because it does not match the line of Israel's border with the West Bank before the 1967 Six Day War.

Speaking before the court, Nasser al-Kidwa, Palestinian observer to the United Nations, quickly condemned the barrier.

"This wall is not about security. It's about entrenching the occupation and the de facto annexation of large areas of Palestinian land," al-Kidwa told the court.

"This wall, if completed, will leave the Palestinian people with only half of the West Bank within isolated, noncontiguous walled enclaves," he said. "It will render the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict practically impossible."

The two-state solution is part of the so-called "road map" to Mideast peace backed by the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

Palestinians want a negotiated two-state solution, with Israel returning to the borders it had before the 1967 war -- which did not include the West Bank.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said the barrier is counterproductive to the road map, which calls for steps by Israel and the Palestinians to end the Mideast conflict and establish an independent Palestinian state by 2005.

The U.N. General Assembly has demanded that Israel halt construction of the barrier and dismantle what has been built.

The international court, created in 1946, is the main legal body of the United Nations and is usually called upon to settle disputes between states.

Israel is not participating in the hearings, saying the barrier is a defense maneuver over which the world court has no jurisdiction. Forty-three countries have said they agree with that argument.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the United States and other Western countries sent a brief to the international court saying it should not be involved in the issue.

"It is our view that this is a political issue and should be resolve through dialogue and negotiation between the parties," McClellan told reporters in a White House briefing.

Israeli officials also said they do not believe the court would seriously consider their side. But Israel did file written arguments saying the barrier is temporary and is helping block out terrorists.

Representatives of several nations and organizations plan to address the court in the coming days in support of the Palestinians' position. Algeria, Saudi Arabia and South Africa spoke Monday.

The Israeli government began building the barrier in 2002, about two years after renewed violence erupted in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Under current plans, the barrier would be completed by 2005.

In the latest violence, a Palestinian terrorist bombing of a crowded Jerusalem bus on Sunday killed at least eight people and wounded more than 50 others. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- a military offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement -- claimed responsibility for the blast. (Jerusalem blast)

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades has carried out numerous attacks against military targets and civilians in Israel and in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The U.S. State Department has designated the group as a foreign terrorist organization.

On Monday, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled stood near the barrier at Abu Dis in the West Bank. Alongside him was the Israeli bus that was destroyed Sunday.

"I don't know who brought the bus here, but I think that it is a very clear message that we would like, or prefer not to see, these kinds of buses," Peled said. "And obviously we would prefer not to see these kinds of walls and fences, and that is very simple. The minute there is a cessation of terror, we won't see these things anymore."

Daniel Shek, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, also defended the barrier.

"Most of what is being said about the security fence, the anti-terrorist fence, in Israel is absolutely unfounded," Shek said. "It is a nonoffensive, nonlethal, defensive, removable, temporary measure which, I must add, works very well. Had we had the fence around Jerusalem yesterday we wouldn't be burying eight of our children today."

Outside the courtroom in The Hague, Israelis parked another bus that had been destroyed by a Palestinian bomb in January, killing 11 Israelis. Thousands of Israel supporters demonstrated. Many held pictures of people killed in bombings.

Separately, Palestinians and their supporters also gathered. Among them were Palestinian farmers who said they have been cut off from their land because of the barrier.

Israel has offered compensation to those who lost land because of the barrier. Some have refused to accept it, saying it would suggest that they accept the wall.

On Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the barrier violates international humanitarian law where it veers into Palestinian territory. (Full story)

Israel has begun dismantling a section of the barrier that isolates one Palestinian town.

The five-mile (eight-kilometer) section of the barrier being pulled down cuts into the West Bank around the Palestinian town of Baka al-Sharqiya, leaving about 7,000 Palestinian residents on the Israeli side of the barrier. The barrier now will fall back to the border, also known as the Green Line, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Miri Eisin told CNN on Monday that the government has moved the barrier in some places after dialogue with Palestinians, and that there are holes for farmers to get through.

It is built "on a security line, and it has nothing to do with a political barrier," she said, adding that there haven't been bombings in cities near where the barrier is fully up. "The wall won't stop all terror from coming in, but it is very efficient at making it very difficult for a suicide bomber to come in. ... We're trying to save lives."

The world court's decision will be nonbinding, but Palestinians say it could lead to international sanctions against Israel. It also could strengthen Palestinian arguments -- and the arguments of other Arab leaders who support the position -- in the eyes of many in the world.

CNN's John Vause and Ben Wedeman contributed to this report.

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