"The wall being built in the West Bank is not about
security, it's about entrenching the occupation and the de facto annexation of
large areas of Palestinian land," Nasir al-Qidwa told the UN's
International Court of Justice.
"This wall, if completed, will leave the Palestinian people with only half
of the West Bank within isolated, non-contiguous walled enclaves," he said
at the start of proceedings in The Hague on Monday.
The Palestinians completed their case for the prosecution
against Israel's building of the controversial separation barrier on Monday
afternoon.
Al-Qidwa, the Palestinians' permanent representative at the UN, said the
construction was destroying the internationally-backed road map.
"It will render the two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict practically impossible," he said.
"Saving the road map and the prospects for peace requires
a cessation of the construction of this wall, its removal and non-recognition by
states of any of its consequences."
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"The wall
being built in the West Bank is not about security, it's about
entrenching the occupation and the de facto annexation of
large areas of Palestinian land"
Nasir
al-Qidwa,
Palestine's permanent representative at the UN
|
Israel has insisted what it terms the security barrier is essential to bring a
halt to the wave of attacks.
Al-Qidwa said the Palestinians "unequivocally"
condemned bombings, but said the barrier was likely to increase the prospect of
such attacks.
"It is more than obvious that when you deprive an entire
people of their rights, expropriate their land and property and wall them into
enclaves and ghettos you are not solving the security problem but creating an
untenable situation that will combust," al-Qidwa said.
Be heard, says Arafat
As the hearings began, Palestinian President Yasir Arafat said
the barrier was designed to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.
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|
Arafat says the barrier
will prevent
formation of a Palestinian state
|
He called on Palestinians in a televised speech to "let their voices be
heard" against the barrier.
"This apartheid wall ... aims to deprive our people of
their land and prevent the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its
capital, in conformity with international resolutions," Arafat said.
But he added: "The ICJ has the opportunity today to
anchor the legal basis of international legitimacy, to give hope for peace and
for the building of bridges of cooperation and friendship instead of the wall of
annexation, expansion and apartheid."
Israeli stand
Israel said in a statement on Monday a ruling by the ICJ would
undermine the peace road map.
"Any response to the substance of the request would
undoubtedly cut across the road map initiative," said the statement issued
in The Hague.
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|
Palestinians have
dubbed the barrier
an 'apartheid wall'
|
"In Israel's submissions the court should decline to give a response on the
requested opinion."
The Israeli government has boycotted the hearings, confining
itself with written submissions it filed last month.
It has consistently rejected the court's competence to issue
what would be a non-binding opinion after a request by the UN's General Assembly
in December.
The court was due to hear presentations in the afternoon session against the
barrier barrier by a series of countries sympathetic to the
Palestinians' case, including South Africa and Saudi Arabia.
The hearings at the UN's International Court of Justice are
expected to last until Wednesday. No date has been set for a verdict which is
advisory and non-binding.
