World Court Ruling on West Bank Barrier

Re “World Court Says Israel Should Demolish Barrier,” July 10: So the International Court of Justice in The Hague has ruled that Israel’s wall to hinder human suicide bombers should be demolished.

Evidently the court thinks it threatened a “de facto annexation” of Palestinian lands for Jewish settlements. So what? Who cares what the International Court thinks or says?

It should keep its officious nose out of Israel’s internal affairs. Besides, “The fence works,” an official Israeli government release stated, and “Israel will continue to defend its citizens.” Exactly. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

The Sharon administration was correct to extend the Cheney-Leahy admonition to that august world body.

Joseph A. Lea

Mission Viejo

What is so hard to understand? If you build a wall between you and your neighbor, you build it along the border and not in your neighbor’s yard. It’s that simple.

The prophet Isaiah cautioned against coveting the lands of one’s neighbors: “Ah, you who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no one but you, and you are left to live alone in the midst of the land” (Isaiah 5:8).

For 5,000 years, the people of Israel have often had to choose between their prophets and their kings. They still do.

George Saade

Downey

I find it cruelly ironic that the Chinese judge used the phrase “gravely” in saying Palestinian rights had been violated in regard to Israel’s security barrier. Does this judge prioritize Palestinian loss of orchards over Israeli rights to ride a bus or eat in a cafe without being blown up by a suicide bomber?

Israel has shown readiness to adjust the route of the security barrier to decrease Palestinian hardship. The Palestinians have made no effort to decrease terrorism. On this, the International Court remains deaf.

Richard Dorenstreich

Aliso Viejo

The International Court has chosen to value inconvenience over safety. The fact that Palestinian life will be more difficult as a result of the security fence seems to bother the court more than the fact that the fence has proven itself effective in saving innocent lives.

Clearly, the fence makes it more difficult for Palestinians to travel back and forth through Israel. The Palestinians have harbored, encouraged and sanctified coldblooded murderers. Inconvenience and economic hardship are not a disproportionate byproduct of murder.

The Times’ article refers to a pregnant woman who will have difficulty reaching a hospital to deliver her baby. This tells us all we need to know. It’s Israelis that today still take care of the Palestinians, even while their Palestinian compatriots are killing them.

If the Palestinian Authority were to truly start taking care of its own and punishing terror, maybe there would be no need for a dividing wall. For the moment, it seems that the division is the most humane thing to do.

Judy Kandel

Los Angeles