JERUSALEM, Sept. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The Israeli Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a section of a barrier the government is building in the West Bank be rerouted.

   A nine-judge panel headed by Supreme Court President Aharon Barak unanimously ruled that the government reconsider within reasonable time an alternative route for the separation barrier in the northern West Bank settlement of Alfei Menashe.

   The government "must come up with different solutions that will not aversely affect the quality of life of Palestinian residents as severely as the current route does," the court said.

   The court made the rule in response to a petition filed by residents of five Palestinian villages in Alfei Menashe against the barrier which will separate them from the rest of the West Bank and nearby urban areas upon completion.

   The petition said the fence would force Palestinian residents into lives of isolation and separation, adding that the Israeli government had no authority to build the barrier beyond the Green Line, which divided Israel and the West Bank before the 1967 Middle East War.

   It was the second time that the Supreme Court ordered the Israeli government to reroute the barrier.

   In June 2004, the court invalidated 30 km of the planned barrier route near Jerusalem in response to a petition submitted by residents of the West Bank village of Beit Surik.

   Israel insists that the planned 600-km-long barrier, which winds deeply into occupied Palestinian territory, be designed to fend off possible suicide bombers.

   But Palestinians see it a land grab and the World Court declared  it illegal, a nonbinding rule ignored by Israel.

   The barrier, over half of which has already been built, will separate hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from jobs, schools and public services. Enditem