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ICJ Hearing sessions at The Hague to resume today

Tuesday February 24, 2004 01:00 by IMEMC & Agencies

resume Tuesday, in which the legality of the Wall Israel is building

IMEMC & Agencies, February 24, 2004 11:00 The hearing sessions at the International Court of Justice will resume Tuesday, in which the legality of the Wall Israel is building in the West Bank is discussed. In the morning session, Belize, Cuba, Indonesia and Jordan will present their arguments to the 15-justice panel. In the afternoon, Madagascar, Malaysia and Senegal will be on the stage. The first hearing session of court at The Hague was held Monday at 11:00 am (J'lm time GMT+2) where the head of the Palestinian envoys to the UN, Nasser Al-Kidweh presented the Palestinian argument against the building of the wall. Al-Kidweh, said that the combination of fences and walls would "render the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict practically impossible." He argued that the Wall, if completed will isolate the Palestinians in enclaves that are less than half of the West Bank. Following that, Attorney Stephanie Khouri, presented facts about the wall and its effect on Palestinian cities and villages and lives using Maps and photos form the West Bank. Later Prof. James Crawford, the head of the International Law department at the University of Cambridge, presented facts concerning the legal situation of the wall and the discussion of the case in the court, proving the right of the court to deal with such an issue. Further, Prof. Ron Lowe of Oxford University is presenting a legal argument showing the violation of Human Rights and the International conventions and agreements by the wall. Where the first three hours were specified for Palestinian arguments, the afternoon sessions were designated for other countries' presentations. The South African representative, South African Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad told the court, "The wall is a clear violation of the Geneva Convention, especially the articles related to the obligations of the occupying power towards the occupied people". He adds, Israel right to security has never been denied. Right of the Palestinians to self determination is not questionable." Besides, he described the wall as an anathema to the peace process as envisaged in the US-Backed road map as it eliminates the prospect of a two-state solution." He also asked the court to rule that the wall is Illegal as they have ruled in 1971 that apartheid South Africa's occupation of Namibia was illegal. Representative of Algeria, who had a long presentation, stressed in his argument the right of the court to give an advisory opinion on the case of the separation wall in the West Bank. He uses the case of Western Sahara in 1975, in which the General Assembly asked the court for an advisory opinion and the court did, despite of the fact that it consented to one party only. He added, "The wall violates also the two covenants of 1966" The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's argument was focused in a legal framework. The Saudi representative stressed the Saudi commitment to the Peace Process and to the war against terrorism and said that being against the wall does not necessarily mean that they support terrorism. Bangladesh presented its argument to the court to be the last presenter for this hearing session. The speaker used examples where the ICJ gave advisory opinions without both parties being there. He also used Namibia's case as an example. He added, "The wall violates the Right of Return of the Palestinian, denies their right to education and access to their property." Bangladesh asked the ICJ to consider the construction of the wall in the West Bank as illegal. Protests outside the courtroom were going along with the arguments. No conflict has been reported outside of the courtrooms where Pro-and-Anti wall protesters gathered. The Palestinians and their supporters came with a replica of the Wall with slogans asking to dismantle it where the Israeli protesters and their supporters came with a wreckage of a bombed bus that was shipped form Israel. Protests against the wall were not only at The Hague, but also in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Demonstrations tookplace in many locations adjacent to the Wall in the West Bank. The protests are to continue today along with the sessoins in the court rooms. The court will continue to convene until Wednesday noon where by that time, 17 countries would have already presented their arguments concerning the legality of the West Bank Wall.

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