ICJ starts hearing on Israeli barrier

The 15 judges in black robes filed into the court to begin the three days of hearings. But much of the action will be outside the historic Peace Palace, where thousands of pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian activists planned to demonstrate.

Raising tensions ahead of the hearing, a Palestinian suicide bomber killed eight passengers on a crowded Jerusalem bus on Sunday. Israeli officials said it was proof of why the fence is needed.

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The Palestinians were scheduled to open the case Monday, arguing against the barrier and in favor of the court's authority to render an opinion on its legality. Israel is challenging the court's jurisdiction and not participating in the hearings.

The Palestinians have set high expectations for the case. They hope a ruling against Israel will lead to the removal of the barrier.

The court, the United Nations' highest judicial body, was asked by the General Assembly to issue an advisory opinion on the barrier. Although the court's decision is nonbinding, its rulings are influential.

Israel has submitted written arguments claiming the court has no authority over the matter. It says the dispute should be resolved through negotiations, and that taking the matter to court will undermine the internationally backed "road map" peace plan. Israel also says the barrier is a response to Palestinian violence, pointing to Sunday's suicide bombing in Jerusalem as proof of the need for the structure.

The Palestinians oppose the route of the barrier, which dips deep into the West Bank at points. They say that when completed, the barrier will make it impossible for the Palestinians to establish an independent state.

AFP adds: Israeli police and security services were placed on general alert early yesterday amid fears of fresh attacks following a suicide bus bombing in Jerusalem which killed eight people the previous day, police sources said.

Police increased patrols in the towns and surveillance at bus stations while deploying extra staff at road blocks and entries to the towns in a bid to prevent infiltration by Palestinian militants.

Israeli army radio reported that the security forces had received intelligence information on some 50 attacks being prepared.

Separately, Palestinian sources said Israeli forces had demolished the West Bank home of the Palestinian activist who set off Sunday's suicide bomb, killing himself and eight other passengers and injuring around 60 people, 10 of them critically.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement which claimed responsibility for the attack, named the suicide bomber as Mohammed Zuhul, 20, from Hussan village near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank.

The army also raised its alert level in the West Bank early Monday, ahead of expected Palestinian protests on the day that the International Court of Justice in The Hague opens a hearing on Israel's controversial "security barrier" around the West Bank, the military sources added.

The Palestinian side was to give three hours of testimony to the court contesting Israel's right to construct the barrier on Palestinian territory.

Israel is not attending the hearings but has sent a written statement challenging the court's competence to hear the case. Any finding of the court will not be binding.

The Palestinian delegation believes Sunday's suicide bombing will not affect the ruling.

However for the Israeli side such attacks provide definitive proof of the need to build the West Bank barrier.