EU nations oppose ICJ hearing on fence case

(snip)

Fifteen members of the European Union and 10 members-in-waiting, as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, Russia, South Africa and Cameroon, joined Israel in submitting affidavits to the ICJ against the authority of the court to rule on the fence. Several EU countries, including Germany, France and the United Kingdom, submitted separate affidavits to the court, with Great Britain submitting the most sharply worded statement rejecting the ICJ's authority in the matter. A total of 40 nations have submitted affidavits to the ICJ.

(snip)

When asked his reaction to the opposition of many countries to the hearing by the ICJ, Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Yasser Arafat, said he call upon the countries of the world to protect the rights of the Palestinians and their land against the construction of the fence. The Palestinians have drafted a number of international law experts, working at the Palestinian mission in UN headquarters in New York, to support their contention that the ICJ should deal with the issue of the fence.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/389294.html

was supporting Israel.

It's just wonderful to see some other democracies start to face facts as well!

Meanwhile, an official at the British Foreign Office told Haaretz that Foreign Office minister Lady Symons believed that the hearing would "serve to politicize the court in a way for which it was not designed."

The British government has always expressed its disapproval of the fence, which it claims encroaches onto Palestinian land, and the Foreign Office said Thursday: "Our concerns relate to the role of the court, not the legality of the route of the fence. It remains our view that the building of the fence on Palestinian land is unlawful."

this IS an international dispute and the ICJ is the UNs highest judicial forum..seems very clear to me who is played the political cards here..