(Israel's UN Mission) Ambassador Dan Gillerman - When the question was initially posed to the court, a result of maneuvers by politically motivated forces, Israel and over 30 leading democracies did not believe that the court had the authority to deal with political disputes between Israel and the Palestinians. The court fails to address the essence of the problem and the very reason for building the fence - the indiscriminate, murderous campaign of terror that Israelis are facing. Palestinian terrorism has taken the lives of nearly 1,000 Israelis in over 20,000 attacks over the last three and a half years. No other country would act differently in the face of such an evil campaign. This opinion places the victims of terror on trial, instead of the terrorists. As long as the terrorism continues, Israel will have no choice but to defend its citizens. This is our moral and legal obligation. Israel calls on the Palestinian side to end its campaign of terrorism and return to the path of negotiations. Israel calls on the international community not to lend its hand to the ongoing Palestinian attempts to use international forums to avoid fulfilling their own commitment to fight terrorism.
2004-07-12 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive