With the danger of the UN turning into a one-world government looking remoter all the time (if anything, the US is more likely to do this), the UN is looking more attractive, if only as a brake on US bellicosity and imperialism.
The latest praiseworthy action by the UN is the ruling by its top court, the International Court of Justice (sometimes called the World Court) that the West Bank barrier is illegal. In this case, the ICJ was asked “to urgently render an advisory opinion on the following question”:
“What are the legal consequences arising from the construction of the wall being built by Israel, the occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, as described in the report of the Secretary-General, considering the rules and principles of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, and relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions?”
The court ruled today “that the barrier Israel is building in the West Bank breaches international law and cannot be justified by Israel’s security concerns. ‘The wall … cannot be justified by military exigencies or by the requirements of national security or public order,’ said Judge Shi Jiuyong of China. ‘The construction of such a wall accordingly constitutes breaches by Israel of its obligations under the applicable international humanitarian law.'”
The advisory opinion, “Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” should be posted here later today, after the completion of its reading of the opinion. Israel has already said it would ignore the ruling.
I will be curious to see how my former teacher, the brilliant (and, if I am not mistaken, Jewish) Judge Rosalyn Higgins–the British member of the Court–votes in this case.
11:08 am on July 9, 2004
