JERUSALEM, Sept. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The Israeli Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a July 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague and ruled that Israel had the right in principle to build a separation fence in the West Bank for security reasons.

   The nine-judge panel headed by Supreme Court President Aharon Barak ruled that according to the international law, an army in occupied territory is authorized to erect a fence in order to protect lives of its own citizens, including settlers.

   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.

   The International Court of Justice declared it illegal last year. However, the nonbinding rule has been ignored by Israel.

   The panel also unanimously upheld a petition submitted by Palestinian residents of five West Bank villages and ruled that the government must reconsider within reasonable time an alternative route for part of the fence in the northern West Bank settlement of Alfei Menashe.

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

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