Israel defiant over wall

A Palestinian woman argues with an Israeli soldier after she was not allowed to cross the West Bank checkpoint of Kalandia to Jerusalem yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

"The fence will continue being built and we will go on taking care of the security of Israel's citizens," Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Israel Radio, reaffirming the longstanding position of Israel's right-leaning coalition.

Late on Tuesday, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling the sprawling network of fences and walls a "contradiction to international law" and ordering Israel to "stop and reverse" its construction on Palestinian lands.

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Olmert said the Israeli government would defy what he called "the dictates of an automatic, hostile, inconsiderate and misguided (UN) majority that always acts against Israel."

Israel says it is a security fence to keep out suicide bombers. Palestinians call it a new "Berlin Wall" that cuts deep into territory they want for a state. The United States, Israel's chief ally, has expressed misgivings about the project.

Persistent violence has stalled a US-backed peace plan for the region. Israel's military said it killed two Palestinian militants in the West Bank on Wednesday after carrying out deadly air strikes in Gaza this week.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters: "The Israeli statement reflects an Israeli determination to continue violating international law and continue the path of occupation and settlement rather than peace and reconciliation."

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in an interview last week that Israel would complete the barrier -- which will eventually run 210 miles -- despite a US threat to reduce $9 billion in loan guarantees to the Jewish state.

Washington is concerned the project prejudges borders that should be decided in negotiations.

Arab states took the dispute to an emergency session of the 191-nation General Assembly after the United States last week vetoed a similar measure in the 15-nation Security Council.

Tuesday's vote on the resolution was 144-4 with 12 abstentions. The United States and Israel voted 'no' along with the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.

Unlike the UN Security Council, the General Assembly is not empowered to pass resolutions that are legally binding and acts more as a bellwether of world opinion.

The vote capped six hours of haggling between European Union and Arab governments over the text of the measure, which initially had been drafted by Palestinian UN envoy Nasser al-Kidwa and took a harsher line against Israeli actions.

US Ambassador John Negro-ponte said last week that the measure he vetoed was biased against Israel. To avert a veto, it would have had to condemn suicide bombings and those groups that have taken responsibility for suicide attacks in Israel.

EU diplomats said the compromise hammered out on Tuesday was far more balanced than the vetoed resolution. It condemned a suicide bombing in the Israeli city of Haifa earlier this month that killed 21 people and last week's bomb attack in the Gaza Strip that killed three US security officers.

It also criticised Israeli settlement activities in Palestinian areas and "any activities involving the confiscation of land, disruption of the livelihood of protected persons and the de facto annexation of land."