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Illegal !
UN court delivers verdict on Israel's Wall
European Jews for a Just Peace (EJJP), 9 July 2004
Israel's Separation Barrier has been declared contrary to international law by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Now the EU must act.
The UN's own court has declared that the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council should take note of the opinion in determining how to bring to an end this illegal situation:
We demand that our goverments, individually - and collectively as the EU - comply with their obligations under international law. They must support UN resolutions demanding compliance with the advisory opinion. The wall is the frontline of an invasion and a military occupation that is now 37 years old.
It is many years since UN Security Council resolution 242 - calling on Israel to withdraw from the territory conquered in the 1967 war - was passed and many years since semantic games were first used to defy the explicit will of the UN. Legalistic games were played with the right of the ICJ to offer an opinion on this matter. In the meantime many Israelis and yet more Palestinians have died while others continue to live in fear.
It is time to end games of international diplomacy. It is time to recognise that a court of justice is precisely the right place to discuss something described as "illegal" by - among others - Jack Straw, the UK's foreign minister and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Military "solutions" such as the barrier being built by Israel engender fear, they do not overcome it.
For further information, or to arrange interviews:
Dan Judelson + 44 (0) 779 339 28 20
Executive committee, EJJP
(EJJP is a network of eighteen Jewish peace groups in ten European countries: www.ejjp.org)
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