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Israel begins moving West Bank security barrier under court order

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Israel has begun to reroute a segment of its West Bank security barrier, said Ministry of Defense spokesperson Shlomo Dror on Thursday. The modifications, which may not be completed until the end of the year, will shift the controversial barrier's path several hundred yards west of its current location near Bilin, and will return more than 800,000 square yards of land to Palestinian farmers. The move comes more than two years after the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the government must change the route because it excessively encroached on Palestinian territory and infringed on residents' rights to access fields and orchards blocked by the barrier. The contested portion in Bilin is just 500 acres of a 410-mile wall along the West Bank border, which Israel began to construct in 2002 to keep suicide bombers from entering Israeli territory. The barrier has been denounced by Palestinians as a land grab that has broken up communities and families, but Israeli officials insist it is necessary to prevent terrorist attacks. In 2006, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered Israel to dismantle another section of the wall in the northern West Bank, but Israeli courts have also rejected petitions by Palestinians when security concerns outweighed the Palestinians' objections. In 2004, the International Court of Justice issued a non-binding advisory opinion that parts of the wall should be torn down.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on February 12, 2010 (boomark / email).