The groups said they "represent a substantial portion of the Israeli public that is opposed to the wall"

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, January 28 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Several Israeli rights watchdogs and left-wing groups on Wednesday, January 28, urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to rule against Israel's separation wall.

The ten Israeli groups sent a letter to the Israeli government and to the Palestinian Authority asking that they be heard when the ICJ starts hearing the case on February 23, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

"We want our voices to be heard against the wall being built by the Israeli government in the occupied territories," read a joint statement by the Israeli groups.

"As Israeli citizens, we are disturbed by the position of the government of Israel in support of the wall, which does not reflect our views, nor does it necessarily reflect the views of Israeli public opinion" it stressed.

The statement added that the groups "represent a substantial portion of the Israeli public that is opposed to the wall".

The appeal was extensively published in local Israeli media as the government was preparing his defense of the project.

Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon was due to decide Wednesday on a strategy to defend the controversial barrier at the ICJ hearing, Israeli government sources said.

Friday is the deadline for written submissions to the court.

Israel intends to plead the world court's "incompetence" in ruling on the wall while claiming that its construction is fundamental to the security of its citizens to prevent infiltrations by would-be Palestinian attackers.

Following an Arab-backed resolution, the United Nations General Assembly asked the ICJ to rule on the legality of the barrier.

The Palestinians – backed by a large part of the international community – maintain that the wall, which juts deep into the West Bank, is nothing but an Israeli land-grab and a bid to pre-empt the borders of their future state.

In September, a U.N. report branded the wall as illegal annexation of Palestinian territory and must be condemned by the world community.

The wall will eventually snake some 700 kilometers along the West Bank and leave even larger swathes of Palestinian territory on the Israeli side.

Dozens of Palestinian towns and villages, in addition to several quarters in occupied Al-Quds, will be surrounded by the barrier and cut off from the rest of the Palestinian territories, isolating some 350,000 Palestinians.

Defiant

Although the ICJ court's opinion is non-binding and only advisory, it could cause great embarrassment to Israel should it establish the illegality of the wall.

Many fear that with an infamous record of spurning repeated U.N. appeals to stop the construction, Sharon would keep on his plans.

According to a statement released by his office, Sharon reaffirmed that even the route of barrier would not change as a result of Palestinian or U.N. demands, including those from the courts.

A re-assessment of the route would only come about as a result of internal Israeli deliberations, read the statement carried by the BBC News Online.

Senior Israeli justice officials complained they would have a hard time defending the barrier at the world court.

They cited the fact that the barrier would expropriate Palestinian territory, enclose whole villages and block a number of Palestinians from their land and livelihoods.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is likely to appear before the court, had dismissed the wall as a blow to peace and a "deeply counterproductive" act in violation of international law.

U.S. President George Bush had previously described the wall as "a problem"  obstructing the creation of a Palestinian state but dropped  the term only four days later when Sharon was visiting him in the White House.

The first phase of the barrier was completed in July 2003 in the northern West Bank and a new 100-million-dollar section was approved by Sharon’s cabinet last October.