OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 23 October 2003 — Israel’s vice prime minister yesterday rejected an overwhelming censure by the United Nations and a call to dismantle a massive barrier being built along the line with the West Bank and inside parts of the territory.

“The fence will continue to be built,” said Ehud Olmert, dismissing the UN General Assembly as hostile to the Jewish state.

Israel says the wall is necessary to keep suicide bombers out of the country. The Palestinians say Israel is using the barrier as a pretext to take Palestinian land.

In Jerusalem, meanwhile, Israel’s police minister visited the main holy site in the city. It was the first high-level tour of the compound since Israeli-Palestinian fighting erupted there three years ago. The visit ended without incident, although Palestinians criticized it as a provocation.

Tsahi Hanegbi’s office said the minister surveyed security arrangements in preparation for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins next week. The site had been open to Muslims only since the violence erupted, and it was reopened to others only in recent weeks.

“We didn’t want the visit to have the nature of a demonstration, we didn’t want any tension there,” Hanegbi told Israel Radio.

Violence continued to flare in the West Bank and Gaza yesterday. Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinians in a series of raids and clashes. Two Jewish settlers and two Palestinians were also wounded in the violence. The UN General Assembly’s call to dismantle the West Bank barrier was passed late Tuesday after more than six hours of negotiations. The compromise resolution wasn’t legally binding, but was seen as a gauge of world opinion. Palestinians praised the measure, which passed with 144 countries in favor and four opposed, including the United States. There were 12 abstentions.

Olmert, speaking to Israel Radio yesterday, dismissed the resolution as an example of the world’s hostility toward Israel.

“Everything connected to Israel gets an automatic majority. The one positive element is that the European Union proposal came to replace a proposal that is even more extreme and hostile to Israel,” Olmert said.

In return for EU support, the Palestinians and their supporters agreed to drop a second resolution that would have asked the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands, for an advisory opinion on the legality of the barrier.

The backers of the resolution also agreed to add a condemnation of Palestinian suicide bombings, Israel’s targeted killings of Palestinian fighters and the Oct. 16 bomb attack on a US diplomatic convoy in the Gaza Strip that killed three American security guards.

Asked if Israel would stop building the barrier, Olmert laughed and told the radio presenter: “You have a sense of humor.”

“We have to worry about Israel’s security and it is clear that we will not act according to the instructions of a hostile, automatic majority ... who has always acted against Israel,” Olmert said.