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World Court begins hearing on West Bank security wall

Palestinians took their challenge to Israel's West Bank barrier to the World Court yesterday as a suicide bombing prompted Israeli officials to say the vast network of walls and fences was justified.

President Yasser Arafat, in a speech on Palestinian TV at the start of a "Day of Rage" of mass protests in the West Bank and Gaza Strip against the project, said there could be no Middle East peace and security with the barrier.

"The objective of erecting this wall is to prevent our people from establishing their independent Palestinian state," Arafat said.

The Hague-based UN tribunal met for the first of three days of hearings on the legality of building a barrier in occupied territory. Israel, staying away from the hearings, calls the barrier a bulwark against militant attacks while Palestinians condemn it as a land grab.

At stake is not only an international ruling but world opinion in a case that underlines the paralysis of Middle East peacemaking after more than three years of violence.

The opening at the baroque Peace Palace, where a panel of 15 international jurists will hear the case, was overshadowed by a Palestinian suicide bombing that killed eight people on a crowded Jerusalem bus on Sunday.

Israeli officials cited it as a grim example of why they must keep up construction of a barrier they say has already thwarted dozens of such attacks. Palestinians voiced concern that the bombing could undermine their case at The Hague.

Both sides are planning street demonstrations. Fearing clashes, Dutch police have slotted them in at separate times.

The Israeli government has refused to attend the hearings, calling the case political and beyond the court's jurisdiction.

But Israel won't remain on the sidelines. A rescue service sent the skeleton of a Jerusalem bus, in which a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 11 people last month, for display outside the court as grim evidence of what Israelis have endured.

"This is a fight for hearts and minds that goes beyond dry legal arguments," a member of the Palestinian delegation said.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry dispatched a team to deal with the press at The Hague. Hundreds of Israeli demonstrators, including relatives of victims of suicide bombings, were flown in.

The hearings stem from a Palestinian request -- backed by the UN General Assembly -- to decide whether Israel is legally obliged to tear down its partially built barrier.

Saudi Arabia, Jordan, South Africa, Algeria, Cuba and other countries are due to present oral arguments in support of the Palestinian position.
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