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Israel to review WB barrier route |
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Tuesday, 20 June 2006The Israeli Defence Minister, Amir Peretz, has ordered a review of the route of the controversial barrier Israel is building in the West Bank.
His office said the aim of the review was to reflect Palestinian concerns.
Mr Peretz gave the order after the Supreme Court demanded the re-routing of a five km section of the barrier near the Palestinian town of Qalqilya.
The court said the barrier route was being used to allow the expansion of the Jewish settlement of Tzofin.
The court has additional petitions pending from Palestinians and human rights organisations that claim the route is being used to take Palestinian lands for settlement expansion.
Repeated re-routing
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Mr Peretz, the Labour party leader, wants to avoid similar rulings by the high court in the future.
Human rights and Palestinian groups argue that the barrier route is designed to accommodate settlement expansion at at least 10 locations.
The Israeli government has repeatedly modified the barrier route following Supreme Court rulings. Israel says the West Bank barrier is designed to stop suicide bombers from entering, but Palestinians see it as an attempt to grab West bank territory.
The International Court of Justice issued an advisory ruling in 2004 that the barrier breached international law where it is built on occupied territory and should be dismantled.
Palestinians and the United Nations say the barrier causes great hardship to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians across the West Bank, cutting them off from hospitals, schools and jobs.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 400,000 settlers live in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem which the international community considers occupied territory.
BBC News
June 19, 2006 |
Tuesday, 20 June 2006
Israel
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