U.N.: Israeli Wall “Illegal Annexation” Of Palestinian Lands

The U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, John Dugard warned in a report that the wall erected in recent months would incorporate "substantial areas" of the West Bank into Israel, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"The evidence strongly suggests that Israel is determined to create facts on the ground amounting to de facto annexation," the report said.

"Annexation of this kind, known as conquest in international law, is prohibited by the Charter of the United Nations and the Fourth Geneva Convention," it added.

Dugard also said "the time has come to condemn the wall as an unlawful act of annexation in the same way that Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights has been condemned as unlawful".

The takeover of occupied Arab East Jerusalem and the seizure of the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 both followed the Six Day War and were condemned in U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Dugard’s report was released as the Israeli cabinet prepared to meet Wednesday, October 1, to decide on the route of the next portion of the wall.

Israel strongly criticized the U.N. expert’s report, claiming it was "one-sided, highly politicized and biased," and totally disregarded the deaths of 900 Israelis in attacks since September 2000.

"When judged against such background, Israel’s self-defense measures, including a security fence being constructed to prevent suicide bombers from entering Israel, would appear proportional as well as within her right to self-defense," argued Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Yaakov Levy.

According to an AFP count, 3,497 people have been killed since the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Intifada against the Israeli occupation including 2,612 Palestinians and 822 Israelis.

The U.N. report accepted Israel had legitimate security concerns that "cannot be denied", but called on Tel Aviv to place a limit on "the violation of human rights in the name of counter-terrorism".

"A balance must be struck between respect for human rights and the interest of security," it added.

Dugard doubted the barrier would even prove to be an effective deterrent against attacks, citing assertions by the Israeli forces that most bombers had taken advantage of flawed checks to cross through Israeli manned checkpoints.

An estimated 200,000 of the 400,000 Israeli settlers are likely to be incorporated on the Israeli side of the 1.4 billion dollar wall, further undermining efforts to tackle the controversial issue in peace talks, his report indicated.

"The construction of the wall within the West Bank and the continued expansion of settlements, which, on the face of it, have more to do with territorial expansion, de facto annexation or conquest, raise serious doubts about the good faith of Israel’s justifications in the name of security," concluded the U.N. official.

The report, based on a visit by the South African expert to the region in June, is due to be formally presented to the 2004 session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in March, a U.N. spokesman said.

The Israeli government does not recognize the U.N. expert’s mandate and has refused to cooperate with Dugard.