While the International Court of The Hague has finished its first round of sessions to rule on the possible illegality of the wall that Israel is erecting on the West Bank (44 countries have presented written depositions and 14 delegations intervened in the courtroom), the European Union which has sent no representative to The Hague has declared it will “accept any ruling made by the judges”, and emphasized its “willingness to collaborate with the Court”. The position of Brussels is well known: on the one hand, there is “agreement with the UN declaration of 8/12/2003 affirming that the construction of the wall is in contravention of international laws”; on the other, to quote the words of EU High Representative for External Policy and Common Security Javier Solana, there is also a conviction that the Court “is not the appropriate place to settle questions of this kind”. The Union fears, on the contrary, that the sentence of the Court, whatever it be, will represent a further impediment to the revival of dialogue between the two sides. Meanwhile, a joint EU-NATO initiative to organize a fresh peace mission to the Middle East was presented on Wednesday 25 February.
