Moral triumph
By Abdel-Alim Mohamed
That the International Court of Justice (ICJ) should have advised the UN General Assembly against Israel's building of the separation wall is a heartening affirmation of the principles of international law which Israel, with Washington's support, habitually breaches.
The ruling of the ICJ did not stop at condemning Israel's repeated failure to uphold human rights but demanded that the building of the wall cease and that those parts already constructed be destroyed. The Israeli government, it said, must compensate those who have already suffered because of the construction, and it called on the UN General Assembly, the Security Council and the international community at large to take the measures necessary to implement its ruling.
Irrespective of ongoing debates as to the extent to which the court's verdict is binding, the ruling furnishes Palestinians a legal document -- and irrefutable legal foundation -- justifying their opposition to and protest against the wall.
The ruling also contributes to the legitimacy of the Palestinian struggle and the work of those who support it in, among other things, opposing the racist separation plan implemented by Sharon's government. It represents, at the very least, a moral triumph for the Palestinians and a legal defeat for Israel. It is to be hoped that the Palestinians, supported by Arab diplomats, will manage to implement the ruling via a unanimous UN resolution that forces Israel to abandon the construction. The ICJ's ruling underlines the discrepancies in the Israeli-American position, which defends the wall despite the fact that it allows Israel to take over Palestinian land occupied in defiance of international law.
What happens next now depends on the ability of Arab diplomats to use the ruling to redirect the dynamics of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
This week's Soapbox speaker is deputy director of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/699/op7.htm