Morning

• Delegations from Belize, Cuba, Indonesia and Jordan present their arguments to the court.

• Terror victims association, Israeli and European students protest outside the Peace Palace.

Afternoon

• Delegations from Madagascar, Malaysia and Senegal present their arguments to the court.

• Terror victims’ association, Israeli and European students protest outside the Peace Palace.

THE HAGUE – Members of the terror victims group, Almagor, who are in The Hague to highlight Israel’s motivation for constructing the separation fence in the West Bank, held a spontaneous demonstration yesterday, to protest the International Court of Justice’s decision not to allow them to participate in the hearings.

Local police ordered members of the group to gather at an area behind barriers erected outside the Peace Palace, much to the chagrin of the Israelis.

“They are putting us behind fences to protect themselves, and yet they won’t let Israel build a fence to protect its citizens,” said one of the demonstrators.

The head of Almagor, Meir Indor, said that it was clear to him that the ICJ would be against Israel, since there would be no one in court to present the case for the victims of terror.

Almagor members were joined in the protest by members of the Civil Coalition, an a-political group which objects to the discussion on the fence itself, irrespective of the route.

Among those on their way to The Hague in Holland to protest the “indictment” of Israel for daring to build a wall protecting its citizens from Palestinian terrorists is Elitzur Lilintal of Peduel. Lilintal was wounded in July 2002 in a 3 AM terrorist shooting attack, and is still now—20 months later—on crutches. Even in his difficult condition, he told Arutz-7‘s Ruti Avraham that he deems it important to “stand there, in the name of the thousands of wounded and dead and their families, and say that no one has the ethical right to tell the State of Israel how to deal with the terrorism plaguing it. Nothing can justify blocking Israel’s preventive measures against terrorism.”

Rabbi Elimelech Shapira, head of the Yeshivat Hesder and pre-military academy in Peduel was murdered in the attack in which Elitzur was wounded. “I had fallen asleep during the ride,” Elitzur told Arutz-7 the day afterwards, “and was awoken by the sound of gunshots and Rav Shapira falling on me. I grabbed the wheel in order to speed out of there, with his [lifeless] leg still on the gas pedal …” The two used to travel several times a week to an early-morning Torah class in Bnei Brak. Shrapnel, shattered bones, and infections have complicated Lilintal’s recovery process.

Before his departure to Holland last night, Elitzur said that he was originally registered to go with a particular organization he did not wish to name, “but Foreign Ministry officials let the group know that since I lived in the Shomron, they would not back my presence.” The Almagor Terror Victims Association, headed by Meir Indor, then invited him to go instead. Though the Foreign Ministry-sponsored Israelis will be put up in local hotels, the 20 members of the Almagor group will be hosted at the homes of private families, in coordination with the local Chabad chapter.

Almagor will also present, outside The Hague, a 26-meter long banner with the names of the 1,250 victims of the past 10.5 years of Palestinian terrorism—ever since the leadership of the PLO was allowed to return from Tunis. Tzafi Has-Adurian, who lost her husband in a Machaneh Yehuda terror attack, said, “We, the victims of terror, will appear at the gates of the International Court as living testimony of the terrorism, and we will demand that the Palestinian Authority be accused—not Israel, which is only defending itself from the terror attacks.”

Another Hague-protestor victim, Avi Ochayon, who lost his ex-wife and their two toddler children in the Kibbutz Metzer attack in November 2002, said, “My family would be alive now if there had been a fence. Our lives take precedence over their ability to get to work.”