MIDDLE EAST: Israel will today express its disappointment over Ireland's submission to the World Court at The Hague in which it challenged the legality of the controversial barrier Israel is constructing in the West Bank.
Israel's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Silvan Shalom, will convey this message to his counterpart in Ireland, Mr Brian Cowen, when the two men meet this morning in Dublin.
"The Minister is expected to express some disappointment on the file that Ireland sent to the Hague court, which is far from keeping in line with the stand of the European Union and other European countries," an Israeli Foreign Ministry source said yesterday.
Ireland's written submission to the International Court of Justice, which held three days of hearings on the issue this week, departed significantly from the common EU position.
In their collective written submission, EU states reiterated that they supported the UN's demand for the dismantling of the barrier being illegally built within the occupied Palestinian territories.
However, they also stated that the request by the UN General Assembly for an advisory opinion from the court on the legal consequences arising from the construction of the wall was inappropriate and "would not help the efforts of the two parties to relaunch a political dialogue".
This document was sent to the court by Mr Cowen, as a representative of the EU presidency, currently held by Ireland.
However, in Ireland's national submission Mr Cowen took a firmer stance, detailing the provisions of international human rights and humanitarian law which the court should take into account in determining the legal consequences arising from the construction of the wall.
In the nine-page submission signed by Mr Cowen, Ireland said Israel had not shown that its stated goal in constructing the wall, the security of Israel, "could not be achieved by alternative means such as constructing the wall within Israeli territory."
The route taken by the wall - inside the West Bank - indicated that its purpose was to protect Israeli citizens "illegally settled" in the occupied territories, contrary to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the paper states.
Significantly, Ireland's statement to the court did not cast any doubt on whether it was the appropriate forum to deliberate on the dispute over the fence's construction.
Ireland, along with all the other EU member-states as well as the US, did not make an oral submission this week to the court, the UN's highest legal body. Israel made a written submission to the court challenging its jurisdiction to hear the case and boycotted the hearings in an effort not to confer legitimacy on the proceedings. Israel has insisted that the barrier is vital to protect its citizens from Palestinian suicide bombers.
Mr Shalom's visit to Ireland today follows a trip to Israel by Mr Cowen last month when he met Mr Shalom as well as the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon. Mr Cowen conducted that visit as a representative of the EU presidency.