From VOA: World Court Concludes Israel Barrier Hearings, No Decision Announced.
Three days of hearings over the legality of the West Bank barrier concluded Wednesday at the World Court, with dozens of Muslim countries backing Palestinian arguments that the barrier is illegal and will block the creation of a viable two-state solution to the Mideast conflict.[...]Although Israel is officially boycotting the proceedings, officials have been at the court to make their views known. Foreign Ministry legal expert Daniel Taub says he hopes the court pays attention to its written arguments -- arguments shared by the United States and many European Union countries. The court, he says, has no right to intervene in a political dispute and undermine the road map for peace.
"But we care ultimately about the lives of our civilians and we'll do whatever is necessary to ensure that in the absence of action by Palestinians so far to stop terrorism that the 935 people we've buried so far because of Palestinian terrorism will be the last," he said.
Meanwhile, Little Green Footballs helps keep things in perspective with these two stories (our headlines):
From The Telegraph: Jailed Palestinian terrorist justifies targeting Israeli children.
Although Khalil wanted to blow up soldiers in her planned attack in Tel Aviv she said it was legitimate to kill Jewish children because one day they would serve in the Israeli army.
From The Jerusalem Post: Israeli bus bombed by Palestinian terrorist as World Court debates security fence.
Deploring the world's "double standards" for criticizing Israel for building the security barrier, Barkat, the Jerusalem council opposition leader, said that "Our right not to be blown up is more important than the quality of life of people whose lives will be disrupted as a result of... the fence."Posted by Forkum at February 27, 2004 06:55 AM
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