December 20, 2006

Israel’s barrier construction caused damage

UNITED NATIONS

The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to establish an office to register Palestinian damage claims stemming from Israel’s construction of a barrier in the West Bank.

Israel and the United States strongly opposed the creation of the new office, which will be based in Vienna, Austria.

Israel began building the barrier in 2002 to stop Palestinian suicide bombers who were infiltrating from the West Bank. Palestinians say it is an attempt to grab their land and has obstructed their freedom of movement.

The barrier has divided villages and destroyed homes and crops, displacing thousands of Palestinians and cutting others off from jobs, doctors, schools and places of worship, said Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN observer.

The General Assembly resolution, approved 162-7 with seven abstentions, referred to an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice in July 2004 that found the barrier illegal. The court said “Israel is under an obligation to make reparations for all damage caused by the construction.”

Israel rejected the advisory opinion and has continued to construct the barrier — a complex of walls, fences, trenches, barbed wire and electronic devices that is expected to run about 680 kilometres when completed.

The resolution authorizes the new office — comprising a three-member board, an executive director and a small staff — to record damage from the construction. For now, it rules out any evaluation or assessment of the losses.

Mansour said establishing the register was just one step toward implementing the court’s ruling.

“We are still insisting, and the international community is insisting, that the wall is illegal and has to be dismantled and that process has to be reversed,” he said.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman said Israel already has a mechanism for Palestinians to register claims for compensation related to the barrier’s construction. He said 140 cases have already been reviewed and more than C$1.7 million has been paid to Palestinians.

He criticized the Palestinians for going to the United Nations “to put another political mechanism in place that does not and will not bring relief to your people.”

The United States made the same point and strongly objected to the estimated cost of over C$2.3 million a year for the register, with no provision for its mandate to be reviewed or concluded.

Gillerman said the “real” barrier between Israelis and Palestinians is not the security fence, but “the terrorism that makes it necessary.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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