Israel’s top court ruled on Thursday that the Jewish state had a right to build a barrier on occupied West Bank land, but only where the army had established security reasons for its construction.
The decision effectively rejects a World Court decision that the project was entirely illegal. Israel had already said it would not abide by the World Court’s ruling last year and has continued erecting the planned 370 mile network of fences and concrete barricades, much of it on territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Israel’s highest court, responding on Thursday to a Palestinian petition against the barrier route, said that there were security needs for parts of the project that made it legal.
“This comprehensive factual basis made it possible for the Court to decide that certain parts of the separation fence violate the rules of international law, and that other parts of the fence do not violate those rules,” the nine-justice panel said in a unanimous ruling.
The High Court said the World Court had ruled without full access to the facts.
“The main difference between the legal conclusions stems from the difference in the factual basis laid before the court,” it said.
The High Court ruled in June last year that the barrier was legal, but ordered some parts rerouted to reduce Palestinian hardship.
Israel says the barrier keeps out Palestinian suicide bombers. Palestinians call it a land grab, a complaint that the World Court endorsed in a 2004 ruling. Israel boycotted the hearings at the Hague, accusing the World Court panel of bias.