DUBAI, 12 July 2004 — The Gulf states of Qatar and Bahrain, along with Yemen, yesterday welcomed the world court’s ruling against Israel’s separation barrier in the West Bank but warned it must be heeded.
Friday’s ruling by the International Court of Justice was “a triumph for international rights,” a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official QNA news agency.
If the court’s decision is not heeded, Israel “will continue its violation of international conventions and the chance to establish peace in the region will be missed.”
Doha also urged the United Nations to “exert pressure on Israel ... to immediately dismantle the wall,” saying peace will depend on “the application of international conventions and the exercising of the Palestinian people’s rights.”
In Sanaa, a Foreign Ministry spokesman hailed the court’s decision which “restores the rights of Palestinians” and said that the international community “faces the responsibility of obliging Israel to conform”.
“The realization of peace for Israel is by the application of international resolutions and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” the spokesman told the official SABA news agency.
Bahrain’s state minister for foreign affairs, Mohammed Abdul Ghaffur, said the court’s decision was “a frank condemnation of the construction of the barrier, which violates international rights.”
The ruling “is a step that must help put an end to Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and establish a just and comprehensive peace to guarantee security and stability to all states in the region,” Ghaffur told the official BNA news agency.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday his country totally rejected Friday’s advisory ruling that the 700-kilometer (435-mile) barrier violates international law and that those parts encroaching on Palestinian territory should be dismantled.
