JERUSALEM, 5 July 2004 — Israel braced itself for a defeat yesterday as the world court was likely to rule against it on the legality of its West Bank wall, while a Jewish settler and three Palestinians were shot dead.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom both pointed to last week’s Israeli Supreme Court ruling, which ordered the government to reroute parts of the wall near Jerusalem, as proof there is no need for the International Court of Justice to get involved. The ICJ is due to issue a non-binding verdict on the legality of the barrier on Friday, although it could also decide that the issue is beyond its competence.
“After the ruling of the Israeli high court, it is obvious to everyone that our judicial system can provide an appropriate response to all Palestinian claims and complaints,” Shalom told army radio.
Sharon was quoted as telling yesterday’s Cabinet meeting that the Supreme Court ruling should be used “as a juridical answer to the web of lies being woven against Israel” at the ICJ.
Meanwhile, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Mohammed El-Baradei, goes to Israel tomorrow to try to persuade the Jewish state to open up its nuclear program, but officials said Israel was not ready to scrap its atomic arsenal.
Under its policy of “strategic ambiguity”, Israel neither admits nor denies having nuclear weapons. But it is assumed to have up to 200 warheads, based on estimates of the amount of plutonium Israeli reactors have produced.
While no breakthroughs are expected, one Western diplomat close to the IAEA said El-Baradei would meet senior Israeli officials, possibly including Sharon.
A Jewish settler and a Palestinian were shot dead in separate incidents in the northern West Bank early yesterday.
The settler was killed in an ambush as he drove past Kfar Yabed village, which is close to the Jewish settlements of Mevo Dotan and Shaked, an army spokesman said.
The radical Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack in a call to a news agency. The army also said an armed Palestinian had been shot dead while “trying to infiltrate” the Braha settlement near Nablus.
