ISRAEL: Israeli officials vowed yesterday to press ahead with the construction of a vast security barrier in the West Bank despite a UN-resolution passed by an overwhelming majority that called for the barrier to be dismantled in line with a ruling by the International Court of Justice.
"The building of the fence will go on," said Mr Ra'anan Gissin, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adding that the UN General Assembly's decision late on Tuesday reflected the "bankruptcy" of the world body.
"Israel will not stop building it (the barrier) or abdicate its inalienable right to self-defence."
The resolution won the support of 150 nations, including EU countries, and was opposed by six countries, including the United States and Australia. There were 10 abstentions.
The resolution comes 10 days after the International Court of Justice in the Hague issued a non-binding ruling stating that the separation barrier was a violation of international law, should be dismantled, and that Palestinians harmed by it should be compensated by Israel.
Palestinians, who view the barrier as an attempt to expropriate the land on which they hope to one day build an independent state, hailed the ruling.
Israeli leaders dismissed it, saying the court had failed to take into account the reason for the construction of the barrier - the wave of Palestinian suicide bomb attacks in their cities.
"Thank God that the fate of Israel and of the Jewish people is not decided in this hall," Israel's UN ambassador, Mr Dan Gillerman, told the plenum after the vote.
"It is simply outrageous to respond with such vigour to a measure that saves lives and respond with such casual indifference and apathy to the ongoing campaign of Palestinian terrorism that takes lives."
Mr Nasser al-Kidwa, the Palestinian UN observer, called the vote "a historic development".
Palestinian Minister Mr Saeb Erekat said he hoped "the international community will continue to exert every effort to make Israel comply with the UN resolutions".
Pressure continued to mount yesterday on Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat to carry out fundamental reforms of his Palestinian Authority, when the legislature passed a decision essentially demanding he form a new government with real powers.
The resolution, passed in Ramallah by the Palestinian Legislative Council, called on Mr Arafat to accept the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mr Ahmed Korei and allow for the establishment of a new government with sufficient authority to confront the growing chaos in the territories.
Mr Korei tendered his resignation over the weekend in the wake of a series of kidnappings and violent protests in the Gaza Strip, many of them aimed at the Palestinian Authority.
The breakdown of order in Gaza seemed to be spreading to the West Bank late on Tuesday night, when a gunman opened fire at Mr Nabil Amr, a former minister and one of Mr Arafat's most vocal critics.
Mr Amr, who was in his home in Ramallah at the time of the attack, was hit in the leg by two bullets.
In Nablus, meanwhile, militants yesterday abducted a senior local government official. He was released unharmed after being held in the Balata refugee camp on the outskirts of the West Bank city.
Mr Korei, who has been at loggerheads with Mr Arafat over his refusal to relinquish control over Palestinian security forces, said the shooting of Mr Amr was "further proof of the dangers of the continuation of the state of paralysis of the security apparatus".
While there have not been calls for Mr Arafat's removal from office, the Palestinian leader is facing the most severe challenge to his power since he arrived in the territories a decade ago to head the Palestinian Authority.