Written Statement of the Russian Federation

Cour internationalede Justice
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Filed inthe Reg:stryon

INTERNATIONALCOURTOF JUSTICE

REQUESTBY THE UNITED NATIONSGENERAL ASSEMBLY
FORANADVISORYOPINIONON THE"LEGAL CONSEQUENCES
OF THE CONSTRUCTIONOFA WALLIN THE OCCUPIED
PALESTINIANTERRITORY"

WRITTENSTATEMENTOFTHERUSSIANFEDERATION The Russian Federation, having regard to Resolution AIRESIES-10/14
adopted on 8 December 2003 by the General Assembly of the United Nations,

whereby the General Assembly decided to request the International Court of

Justiceto urgently renderan advisoryopinionon the following question:
"What are the legal consequencesarising from the construction of the wall

being built by Israel, the occupying Power,in the Occupied PalestinianTerritory,

includingin and aroundEastJerusalem,as describedin the report of the Secretary-

General, considering the niles and principles of international law, including the
Fourth Geneva Conventionof 1949, and relevant Security Council and General

Assemblyresolutions?" ;

Having regard to the Order of the Court of 19December 2003, by which the
Court fixed 30January2004 as thetime-limitwithin which the United Nationsand

its Member States are able to furnish information on al1 aspects raised by the

question subrnittedto the Court for advisory opinion and may submit written
statements in accordancewith Article 66 (2)ofthe Statuteof the Court;

Having regard to the factthat the RussianFederation is a Member State of

the UnitedNations andby virtueof Article93of the Charterof the UnitedNations
is ipsofacto aparty to theStatuteof the Court;

Wishing to avail itself of the opportunity given by the Court's Order of

19December2003 to States entitled to appearbefore the Court to make a written
statement on the above-mentionedrequest by the General Assembly of the United

Nationsfor an advisoryopinion of theCourt;

Has the honourto presentthe followingstatement: The Russian Federation notes that on 8 December 2003 the General
Assemblyof the United Nations adoptedits resolution AIRESIES-10/14in which

inter alia referring to Article65 of the Statute of the Court it requested the

International Court of Justice to urgently render an advisory opinion on the
followingquestion:

"What are the legal consequencesarising fi-omthe construction of the wall

beingbuilt by Israel, the occupying Power,in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,
including inand aroundEast Jerusalem,as describedin the report of the Secretary-

General, considering the mles and principles of international law, including the

Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, and relevant Security Council and General

Assemblyresolutions?" .
This Resolution was approvedby recorded vote of 90 in favor to 8 against,

with 74abstentionsincludingthe RussianFederation.

In this context we consider the following Statement of the Russian
Federation of December 8, 2003 explaining its vote at the Emergency Special

Sessionof the General Assembly,to be relevant to consideration by the Court of

thequestionsubrnittedto it for advisory opinion:
"The entire course of events bears out that a military solution of the

Palestinian-Israeliconflictis impossible. The status quo is absolutely not viable,

sinceit does not correspond to the interests of either party. The Palestinians will
not be able to achieve the creation oftheir statehood,and the Israelis will notbe in

apositionto ensuretheir national security.

Secwity Council Resolution 1515was a unanimous cal1upon the parties in
close cooperationwith the Quartetof InternationalMediators to irnmediatelystart

implementingthe Road Map,which has nowacquired an internationallegal status.

Ttis now important to restore a direct Palestinian-Israelidialogue. Russia hopes
that the speediest holding of a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel

SharonandHeadof the Palestinian CabinetAhmedQurei willcontributeto this.

In accordancewith the Road Map thePalestinianAuthority is called upon totake
effective measuresto end terroristacts againstthe civilianpopulation of Israel.Wetake note of the efforts made in this regard by the Palestinian side with reliance
uponthe importantassistanceof Arab States,primarilyEgypt.

TheIsraeli leadership,in its tum, is called uponto fulfillits set of obligations

under the Road Map, namely -to renounce the disproportionate use of force and
extrajudicialkillings, to take effectivestepsfor alleviatingthe economicburden of

the Palestinianpopulation and to remove such an obstacle to peace as settlement

activityand the construction of a"separation wall."The UN Secretary General has
expresslycalled for thisin his report,pointing outthat Israel hasnot been fulfilling

the General Assembly'srequirements.No one denies the right of Israel to protect

itscitizens,but this right shouldnot be realizedby seizing other people's territories
and should not run counter to the noms of international humanitarianlaw. Such

actionsmust not be allowed to put injeopardy the prospect of creating an integral

andviable Palestinianstate.
We understand the motives of the sponsors of the draft resolution, aimed at

studying the legal consequences of the construction of the "wall." But that

approach on a political plane would rnean that the world comrnunity has put up
with the current situation. In our conviction, however, at this stage al1 efforts

shouldbe focusedon stoppingand reversingthe construction ofthe "wall."This is
demanded by Security Council Resolution 1515 and by General Assembly

Resolution ES-10113. Al1the Quartetmembers staunchly support this. There now

shouldbe no yielding up to despair,no creating the impression of an inevitability
of a negative scenario, but the full arsenal of political means should be used

instead, so as to ensure the implernentationof the already adopted decisions after

all. We are convinced that the General Assembly and Security Council should
continueto rnonitorcloselythis process, renderingsupportto the Quartet'sefforts.

Russia in close cooperationwith the UN, US and EU will continue to work

actively towards Palestinian-Israeliand comprehensiveregional settlement on the
basisof SecurityCouncilResolutions 242,338, 1397and 1515". The Russian Federationis convincedthat negotiations shall remain the only

instrument to achieve peaceful and just settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict. We believe that any response of the Court to the General Assembly's

request, whetheror not it decides to give an advisory opinion, should not hamper

or create additionalobstacles for such negotiating process or make the two - State
solutionimpossible.

The Russian Federation expresses its hope that the Court will consider the

abovecarefullywhile decidinghow to respondto the GeneralAssembly'srequest.

AmbassadorExtraordinaryand Plenipotentiary
ofthe Russian Federation
to theKingdomof the Netherlands