Israeli court orders changes in barrier

JERUSALEM -- Israel's High Court of Justice, in a landmark ruling, ordered military authorities yesterday to reroute small sections of the barrier Israel is building in the West Bank because the current path creates hardships for thousands of Palestinians, "violating their rights under humanitarian and international law."

The court, responding to petitions by Palestinian villagers and others, said authorities had a legal responsibility to strike a balance between maintaining the welfare of West Bank residents and the security of Israelis.

The three-judge panel rejected the contention that the barrier itself was illegal, and its decision affects only about 20 miles near Jerusalem out of a planned 425-mile route.

But the effect of the ruling could be much broader. At least 20 other petitions have already been filed challenging the path of the barrier elsewhere, and justice officials suggested the court's decision could set the standard for other cases.

"This is a courageous and very important decision. Of course it is precedent-setting," Mohammed Dahla, the lawyer for the petitioners, told reporters at the court.

A court official said it marked the first major decision by the court on the contentious barrier. Previous rulings froze construction temporarily and forced authorities to compensate Palestinians for confiscated land.

Security officials described the ruling as a setback but pledged to redraw part of the route. Victor Bar-Gil, the director-general of Israel's Defense Ministry, said the decision would delay construction by at least three months.

"We're disappointed," Bar-Gil said. "Any adjustment of the line causes us to lose some security."

Palestinian officials played down the significance of the decision, while residents of the affected villages declared victory.

Israel has already built about a quarter of the barrier, which is aimed at preventing Palestinian bombers from crossing from the West Bank into Israel. Though in some areas it follows the "green line" -- the border between Israel and the West Bank -- in other places, the route strays deep into Palestinian territory.

Israeli authorities say the reason the route meanders is either out of security considerations or to take in some Jewish settlements built in the West Bank. But Palestinians complain the detours end up isolating some villages or separating residents from their farmland, schools, or urban centers.

Authorities have also confiscated large tracts of Palestinian land to build the barrier, which consists in most places of an electronic fence, a ditch, and a tracking road.

In yesterday's case, petitioners said the route adversely affects about 35,000 residents of several Palestinian towns and villages north of Jerusalem. The fence would have separated villagers from about 7,500 acres of mostly cultivated land.

The petitioners had suggested an alternative route in negotiations with authorities before yesterday's decision. The judges did not specify where security officials should draw the new path but said 20 miles of the original line were unfair. They left another 6 miles in place.

"The route that the military commander established for the security fence . . . harms the local inhabitants in a severe and acute way while violating their rights under humanitarian and international law," the court said.

"This route has created such hardship for the local population that the state must find an alternative that may give less security but would harm the local population less. These alternative routes do exist," it said.

It was not immediately clear how much, if any, infrastructure authorities would have to move or dismantle as a result of the decision. One member of Sharon's Cabinet, Danny Naveh, said the decision would cost the government at least $2 million.

"I don't like this decision. With all due respect to the judges, I want the government to pass a law that will bypass the High Court of Justice on this issue," he said.

The decision is only the latest example of the High Court of Justice ruling against the government on critical policy matters.

In the past, High Court judges have halted Palestinian house demolitions and banned torture by Shin Bet security service interrogators.

The court's most contentious decisions are often met by calls for legislation that would diminish its power.

A large majority of Israelis support the barrier but most Palestinians view it as a way for authorities to usurp their land.

Even its name is contentious. Israelis refer to it as a security fence. Palestinian officials call it Israel's "apartheid wall," though only tiny sections of the barrier are actually built-up concrete.

Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei described yesterday's decision as insignificant.

"The wall is an act of aggression whether it remains as is, or they introduce changes in its route. This wall should be knocked down as other walls in the world, like the Berlin Wall," he said.

But petitioners said the High Court had the courage to declare that Israeli authorities had acted unfairly.

"For a whole year, we have been saying this and no one listened to us," said Ahmed Kandill, a 30-year-old resident of Beit Surik, a village just north of the green line and west of Jerusalem.

Palestinians have also asked the world court in the Hague to declare the barrier illegal. The court is expected to issue its nonbinding ruling next week.

Israel's justice minister, Tommy Lapid, from the centrist Shinui Party, said he had long been advocating a more humanitarian route. He hailed yesterday's decision.

"We have to be proud that the High Court weighs in on what's allowed and what's not," Lapid said. "If the High Court doesn't dictate the route, the international community, the US or the court in the Hague will."

In another development, a leading rabbi announced this week that anyone who evacuates Jewish settlements from the West Bank should be subject to the death penalty under biblical Jewish law, according to the Israeli Haaretz newspaper.

The paper said Rabbi Avigdor Neventzal, who oversees Jewish affairs in Jerusalem's Old City, made the remark at a rabbinical conference in the West Bank.