04308
July 14, 2004

Court decision on Israeli ‘security’ barrier draws reaction

by Michele Chabin
Religion News Service

JERUSALEM — Religious groups reacted quickly to the International Court of Justice’s July 9 ruling that Israel’s security barrier violates international law because it violates Palestinians’ rights.

      While Muslim groups appeared to unanimously support the court’s recommendations that Israel immediately dismantle the barrier, many Jewish groups in Israel said they support the barrier’s construction but urged the government to build it in a more humane way.

      Even those Jewish groups that supported the ICJ’s criticism of Israel’s confiscation of Palestinian land to build the barrier said the ICJ’s  ruling focused on Palestinian suffering but generally ignored the plight of Israelis hounded by Palestinian violence.

      “The ICJ decision is important because it squarely put the issue of the barrier in the context of the occupation. It stated that building inside the occupied territories (on Palestinian land) is illegal,” said Rabbi Arik Ascherman, director of Rabbis for Human Rights, a politically liberal group comprised of Jewish clergy from various denominations.

      At the same time, Ascherman said in an interview, the decision “was very disappointing in that it included only a line or two about Israel’s security needs.

      “We believe, as does Israel’s High Court of Justice, that Israel can defend itself by putting the barrier on the Green Line,” Israel’s pre-1967 border. Israel’s High Court ruled in late June that 40 kilometers of the barrier already constructed must be rerouted because it caused great hardship to Palestinians and confiscated their land.

      The Reform movement in Israel has not taken a formal position on the ICJ ruling, according to Gilad Kariv, one of the movement’s rabbis.

      In contrast, the movement has come out in support of the recent Israeli High Court ruling, “which said this fence should be built for security reasons but in a way that minimizes damage to innocent Palestinian civilians,” Kariv told RNS.

      The Masorti movement, the Israeli branch of the Conservative movement, adopted a position on the wall last February during its annual rabbinical assembly.

      “Our position is exactly the position of the Israeli High Court of Justice decision that balances the need for security with the need to avoid unnecessary hardship to innocent Palestinians,” said Rabbi Ehud Bandel, who heads the Masorti movement.

      Christians supporters of Palestinians applauded the ICJ verdict. Members of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel joined a hunger strike to protest the barrier. EAPPI is coordinated by the World Council of Churches.

      Christian supporters of Israel, on the other hand, urged Israel to ignore the ICJ ruling, which is not legally binding.