Arafat Slams Israel Over Barrier Hearing

(AP Video)

The decision was made by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) and five senior Cabinet ministers, according to an announcement by Sharon's office.

Hearings before the International Court of Justice in The Hague (news - web sites), Netherlands, are to begin Feb. 23. The U.N. General Assembly asked its highest tribunal in December to issue a non-binding ruling on the legality of Israel's separation barrier, a series of fences and walls built in the West Bank.

Israel says the obstacles, which will eventually stretch for 440 miles, are necessary to keep out suicide bombers. Palestinians charge that the barrier constitutes a land grab since it cuts deep into the West Bank at points.

Palestinian Cabinet minister Ghassan Khatib said the Palestinians would present their arguments to the world court — regardless of Israel's decision.

"The wall is destroying our land and our economy and we are looking forward to this court hearing to declare a legal opinion on that," Khatib said.

Israel has challenged the world court's authority to rule on the barrier, arguing that the issue is being manipulated for political ends.

A Sharon adviser, Zalman Shoval, said earlier Thursday that "the court should not be consigned to rule on political issues and this is clearly a political issue."

Alan Baker, the Foreign Ministry's legal adviser, said Israel had already made its views known in writing.

"After having examined all the written statements that were submitted by other countries, Israel does not feel it has anything to add," he said. "Israel has decided not to accept the invitation."

However, Israel will apparently not stay on the sidelines entirely.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has said it will send spokespeople to the world court. The Israeli rescue service ZAKA wants to display the mangled skeleton of a Jerusalem bus outside the court to illustrate the threat of terrorism. And dozens of Israelis are expected to fly to the Netherlands to participate in demonstrations.

Shoval said any court ruling would pre-empt peace talks outlined in the U.S.-backed "road map" plan.

In the first hearings, the court is to rule whether it will handle the case. Several dozen countries, even those that have objections to the barrier, have submitted briefs saying the matter should not be brought before the court.

A former chief of the Mossad security service, Ephraim Halevy, urged Israel not to participate in the hearings.

If Israel joins the process, "it will damage the struggle of liberty-seeking countries against terror," Halevy wrote in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper on Thursday.

The Palestinians cannot expect to proceed in efforts to reopen peace talks while trying on a legal track to back Israel into a corner, Halevy said.

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