MIDDLE EAST: The High Court of Justice in Israel yesterday issued an order suspending construction of a section of the separation barrier near Jerusalem that Palestinians say will cut them off from parts of the West Bank and impact negatively on their livelihood, writes Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem
The court was hearing a petition submitted by residents of eight West Bank villages, north-west of Jerusalem, who said the building of the barrier would leave them encircled.
A group of residents from the Israeli suburb of Mevasseret Zion, which is close to the route of the planned fence, joined the petition, arguing that the barrier would cut Palestinian residents off from their agricultural lands. They also pointed out that since the start of the intifada in September 2000, there had been few security-related incidents in their area. Two Palestinians were shot dead by troops during an anti-barrier protest near this section of the fence last week.
"There is no reason ... to cut these residents off from their community, from their society," said Mr Mohammed Dahla, a lawyer for an Israeli-Palestinian group, the Popular Committee Against the Wall.
The judges ordered the army to try to reach a compromise with the Palestinian residents over the route of the section of the fence that is to be built near their villages. According to the current plan, the residents would have to exit the fenced-in area through a single gate. The court will convene again next week.
Israel has been under growing international pressure to change the route of the barrier, which Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon has pushed deeper and deeper into the West Bank, raising Palestinian fears that it will rob them of the chance to set up a viable state. Last week, the barrier came under intense scrutiny when it was discussed at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The pressure appears to be having an effect. Israel recently told the US it would alter the route of the fence, the daily Haaretz reported yesterday. The new route is said to eliminate some sections that protrude deep into the West Bank like "fingers", and reduce the number of Palestinians trapped by the barrier.
Israel's Defence Minister Mr Shaul Mofaz, though, yesterday issued an order for the building of the West Bank barrier to be accelerated, with labourers working around-the-clock shifts.
Israel, meanwhile, continued its policy of targeting militant leaders when helicopters fired missiles at a car travelling in Gaza City on Saturday night. Three Islamic Jihad operatives were killed in the strike and 10 bystanders were injured, including a six-year-old boy. "The coming days will be the blackest days in Israel's history," one Islamic Jihad leader vowed in Gaza.
Two more militants, both members of Mr Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, were killed yesterday in clashes with Israeli troops near the West Bank city of Nablus.
An Israeli couple shot dead by Palestinian militants south of Hebron on Friday night were buried yesterday.