Letter dated 30 January 2004 from the Ambassador of Japan to the Netherlands, together with the Written Statement of the Government of Japan

Courinternationalede Justice
Enregistréau Greffe:le
EMBASSY OF JAPAN ----------
InternationalCourtof Justice
IN Filedinthe Registryo: 30- :n~ 2~04/2 8
THE NETHERLANDS

Mr. P. Couvreur
Registrar
International Court of Justice

Peace Palace
Carnegieplein 2
2517 KJ The Hague

30 January 2004

1have the great honour to submit to thecourt herewith, the written
statement of theJapanese Government on the "Legal Consequences of the
Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory."

1avail myself ofthis opportunity to renew tothe InternationalCourof
Justice the assurances of my highest consideration.

Hiroharu Koike
Ambassador of Japan
to the Netherlands Written Statement of the Government of Japan

1. On December 8, 2003, the United Nations General

Assembly adopted a resolution (ARESIES-10/14), whereby it
decided to request the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to

urgently render an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of
the construction of "the Barrier" being built by Israel. Based on

this resolution, the ICJ decided that "the United Nations and its

Member States are considered likely ...to be able to furnish
information on al1 aspects raised by the question submitted to

the Court." While Japan abstained from the voting because it
considers this issue to be political in nature and is, therefore,

doubtful that an advisory opinion by the ICJ would contribute to
its solution, Japan wishes to submit the following view on this

question to the ICJ.

2. Since the 1993 Oslo Agreement, Japan has contributed to

the Middle East Peace Process through both political and
economic support. This is based on the nation's recognition that

the only path to peace in the Middle East is for "two states",
Israel and Palestine, to live side by side in peace. Japan has

extended more than US$650 million in assistance to the

Palestinians since 1993, and Japan's recent assistance activities
have focused on the fields of humanitarian assistance, assistance

to promote reform of the Palestinian Authority, and assistance for
confidence building between Israelis and Palestinians.

Ambassador Arirna, Special Envoy for Peace in the Middle East,
has built a constructive cooperative relationship through

dialogue not only with Israeli and Palestinian sides, but also withthe dignitaries in the surrounding countries. In these assistance

efforts, Japan has held the view that the conflicts between the

Israeli and Palestinian sides are highly political in nature and
that nothing but steady implementation by both the Israeli and

Palestinian sides of their respective measures stipulated in the
Road Map will bring about a peaceful resolution to the Middle

East conflict in line with the vision of "two states".

3. Under such circumstances, unilateral actions which

prejudge final settlements on pending issues will seriously

undermine the resolution of this conflict. Based on all the points
stated above, Japan presents its opinion on the question of the

construction of "the Barrier" as follows:

The construction of "the Barrier" is negatively aecting the
livelihood of Palestinians because it is being constructed inside

the "Green Line"; moreover, it prejudges the outcome of the
final status negotiations. The construction of "the Barrier"

inside the "Green Line" appears to be in contradiction to

relevant provisions of international law, based on the limited
information available. Hence, Japan maintains that the

construction of "the Barrier" within the "Green Line" should
be stopped. Although Japan is aware of the Israeli side's

claims that "the Barrier" is intended to prevent the intrusion
of terrorists, Japan does not find the information at its

disposa1 to definitively just* the construction of "the Barrier"

inside the "Green Line".4. At the same time, it must be noted that a large number of

innocent Israeli lives have been lost because of the failure of the

Palestinian side to prevent terrorist attacks by Palestinian
extremists. Terrorism cannot be justified for any reason, and

Japan resolutely condemns terrorism. The Palestinian Authority
must make the utmost effort both to improve its security capacity

and to suppress terrorism.

5. While Japan's view on the question of the construction of

"the Barrier" is as stated above, Japan would like to add that, in

a general sense, the "acquisition" of land by force is not
admissible, and measures taken under such "acquisition" do not

constitute a basis for obtaining territorial title under
international law.