Israeli court rejects world court ruling

The Israeli Supreme Court today rejected an opinion by the International Court of Justice calling for the removal of Israel’s West Bank barrier, upholding the structure’s legality and also instructing the government to reroute a section to avoid encircling Palestinian villages.

In its first ruling on the world court opinion, the nine-member panel of Supreme Court justices said the July 2004 judgment by the tribunal at the Hague, Netherlands, did not sufficiently consider Israel’s security needs.