International Court and Fareed Zakaria

. PHOTO: AFP

However, the Israeli apologists in the international media are making every effort to belittle and discount the International Court's ruling. (The Daily Star also has not given it sufficient prominence, in keeping with its historic importance. For a start, it would be nice to see the text of the entire judgement printed, together with commentary by legal experts). And sure enough, Fareed Zakaria ("For Sharon, an unlikely legacy" Friday July 16) steps right into the domain of incomprehensible. First he makes the absurd suggestion that the deliberations of the world's finest and most ethical legal minds, representing the full spectrum of the nations of the planet, are of less significance than the findings of the Israeli Supreme Court, a court known for its bias. Along the way he glosses over the basic difference that the International Court rejects the notion that the Wall is needed for Israeli security and calls for it to be torn down wherever it strays into the territories occupied in 1967, while the Israeli court only suggests some minor changes in its route.

Continuing to parrot the exact line trotted out by the Israeli government, Fareed Zakaria goes on to portray the move to leave Gaza as an act which represents Israel's desire to make "progress" in the solution of the Palestinian problem. He conveniently omits to mention that the Gaza disengagement has almost nothing to do with the "roadmap", which is the current internationally accepted programme by which to arrive at the two-state solution, and which Israel is blocking at every turn. One suspects, on the contrary, that the Israeli plan is to leave Gaza in chaos and then use this as an excuse to put off all discussions on vacating the rest of the Occupied Territories, while all the time rushing to complete the Wall and so seizing the most productive parts of the West Bank together with East Jerusalem. Fareed Zakaria's comments about events which might "retard progress" appear to be designed to sugarcoat and prepare the world for exactly this outcome.

Finally, and most disgustingly, Fareed Zakaria appears to be justifying the ongoing Israeli repression in Gaza on the grounds that it will send a message to the world about how strong and victorious the Israeli army is, how it is not being "chased out."