The International Court of Justice is expected to take a position against Israel in its hearing on the West Bank security fence regardless of whether Israel participates in the proceedings, an official in the State Prosecutor's office said Friday.
Top cabinet ministers decided Thursday that Israel will not participate in the proceedings set to begin February 23 in The Hague. The decision was made hours after legal advisers recommended that Israel stay away from the proceedings, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said in a statement.
"The ministerial team, headed by ... Sharon, decided to make do with the affidavit Israel filed on January 1, stating that the court does not have the authority to hold hearings on the fence," the statement said.
Irit Kahan, head of the international affairs department in the State Prosecutor's office, said Israel's planned absence from the hearing was irrelevant.
"I don't think that because we won't be there, the judges will formulate a position against us," she told Israel Radio on Friday. "The expectation is that a position against us will be formulated in any event."
Kahan said Israel was trying to prevent the hearing from being a political event. "We have certainly shown sufficient respect to the court by trying to prevent it from being dragged into a political move by the Arab countries," she said.
The negative world opinion of the fence would have changed had Israel moved its route closer to the 1967 border at an earlier stage, said Kahan, adding that she thought doing so at this point won't alter the debate at The Hague.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority interpreted Israel's decision not to appear at the hearing as an admission of guilt.
"This is a recognition that the Israelis cannot face the international community and international law and justice," Nabil Abu Rdeineh, an adviser to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, said Thursday.
Israel's legal team urged that Israel not take part in oral arguments before the court because that would lend legitimacy to a case they say is politically motivated and outside the tribunal's jurisdiction.
Alan Baker, the Foreign Ministry legal adviser, said that "after having examined all the written statements that were submitted by other countries, Israel does not feel it has anything to add."
However, Israel won't remain entirely on the sidelines in the closely watched case. The Foreign Ministry is dispatching spokespeople, hundreds of Israeli demonstrators plan to fly to the Netherlands, and the Israeli rescue service ZAKA is sending the skeleton of a Jerusalem bus mangled in a Palestinian suicide bombing.
The International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, agreed to hold hearings in response to a request by the United Nations General Assembly for a non-binding opinion on whether Israel is legally obliged to tear down the barrier.
Israel says it is a security fence to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers.
Palestinians object to the planned route of the barrier, slated to cut deep into the West Bank with a network of metal fences, razor wire and concrete wall. They hope for a ruling to exert international pressure on Israel to stop the project.
Israel has signalled it might shift the fence's route in response to U.S. pressure.
The Israeli rescue service ZAKA said it is flying the charred frame of a Jerusalem bus blown up by a Palestinian suicide bomber to The Hague. Eleven people were killed and dozens wounded in the bombing last month.
ZAKA members collect body parts of victims in the aftermath of suicide bombings. The rescue service said ZAKA volunteers would deploy outside the court, alongside the bus, and talk to passers-by about their work.
An Israeli grass roots group, meanwhile, is arranging for discount flights to The Hague for Israeli demonstrators. Shahar Ervin, the director of the group, the Citizens Coalition, said more than 600 have approached him over the last two days.
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