SA legal team tackles Israel's wall
Richard Mantu
27 February 2004
The South African government has voiced its objection to Israel's West Bank barrier to fence off Palestinians, saying it is in breach of international law and undermines the Middle East peace process.
Addressing the International Court of Justice in The Hague in Netherlands on Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad quoted Pope John Paul II, saying the Middle East "needed bridges, and not walls".
The wall is a network of wire fences and cement walls running close to the "Green Line" boundary between Israel and the West Bank. There are reportedly plans to stretch the wall deep into occupied land, extending a total of about 730km.
Pahad said South Africa was committed to a two-state solution to Middle East peace, where both Israelis and Palestinians lived within their secured borders.
"The separation wall is not a security wall", Pahad told the International Court of Justice. "It is a wall to enforce occupation, a wall that has
separated hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their families, homes, land, and religious sites.
"The separation wall is an anathema to the peace process as envisaged in the Middle East Roadmap", Pahad said.
South Africa's submission to the International Court of Justice comes after the United Nations requested the court to offer an advisory opinion on the legality of the wall.
The South Africa legal team to the court was led by Advocate Mbuyiseli Madlanga, accompanied by Sandia de Wet, Thandeka Lujiza, and Andre Stemmet.
While Palestinians made submissions condemning the wall as unlawful, Israel stayed away from the hearings, questioning the court's jurisdiction to deal with the matter.
Pahad argued that the jurisdiction of the court was beyond question, adding that the hearings would send a
message to both Palestinians and Israelis that "they must redouble their efforts at achieving peace, in the interest of their peoples".
Source: BuaNews
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