Israel rejects world court's ruling on the security fence
Yedioth Ahronoth  | 02.23.05 | Tal Rosner
 

International Court of Justice decision on security fence non-binding, State says in first official response to The Hague’s ruling;

The International Court of Justice decision slamming the West Bank security fence construction is non-binding, Israel says in its first official response to the controversial ruling.

Prime Minister Sharon and other government ministers have dismissed the decision taken by The Hague court earlier, but no substantive response to the ruling was provided until now.

Israel says it is not obligated to obey by the court decision, because it objected to the question being raised at the world court to begin with. In addition, the information presented to the ICJ was insufficient, the State says.

“The facts placed before the court were in fact dictated by the United Nation’s Secretary General,” the Israeli response charges. “The security need for the fence or a description of terror attacks and damages suffered by Israel were not presented.”

The ICJ’s decision was made public in July 2004. Later, High Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak instructed the State to respond to the world court’s ruling.

Whopping decline in terror

The 170-page long State response describes the separation fence as a “temporary security measure to halt an offensive,” and notes the decision to construct the barrier was taken in the wake of a terror wave.

“The barrier’s current route is temporary. It aims to provide a response to existing and future terror threats, until a stable political deal can be reached,” the response says.

General Security Service data included in the document show a 84 percent decline in the number of terror victims and a 92 percent drop in the number of injuries inflicted by terror attacks in the year following the fence’s construction.