The State Council will soon issue a ruling on the case filed to stop Egypt constructing a solid wall along its border with Gaza, Amira Howeidy reports The controversial "steel wall" Egypt is building along its border with Gaza was brought to public attention this week after almost disappearing from the news. In a courtroom packed with media representatives and political activists from various backgrounds, the State Council on Tuesday resumed hearings on a case filed by Ibrahim Youssri, a former ambassador and lawyer, to stop the wall's construction. The court announced it would issue its verdict 29 June. In a brief statement to the court, Youssri argued that the decision to build a wall that extends along the border -- over ground and underground, ostensibly to block cross-border smuggling via hundreds of tunnels -- was "null and void", defeats its own purpose, and violates the law. "How is this wall an act of sovereignty when Egypt is prohibited, because of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, from any military activity in Area C (in Sinai), deploying an Egyptian officer, or one military tank? How is it that Egypt is constructing an entire wall in this same area in violation of the same agreement?" he asked. Youssri -- who filed the case in January -- represents 110 Egyptian and Western activists. The State Council opened the case on 6 April and has held three sessions since. In the first, the state's representative argued that the decision to construct a border wall with Gaza is a "national security" issue. Youssri countered this Tuesday by arguing that the wall is more a "state intelligence" issue than one of national security. "There's a difference between stopping [underground tunnel] smuggling and thieves and protecting Egypt's domestic security from a national security viewpoint and within the standards set by international law." There are approximately 190 countries in the world "and they don't build walls to protect their borders because they have border police," he added. "The few border walls that were indeed constructed proved to be a failure and did not stop smuggling." Construction of the 10-14 kilometre long steel wall was publicised last December when the Israeli daily Haaretz wrote on it. Egyptian officials were reluctant at first to comment, finally defending the wall as a national security necessity in light of active smuggling between Egypt and Gaza as a result of Israel's blockade on the Strip. It is estimated that there are more than 300 tunnels linking the Egyptian side of Rafah with Gaza, with a large variety of goods -- including foodstuffs, medicine, gas, oil, spare car parts and even livestock -- transported to besieged Gaza. Proponents of the wall have charged that drugs and weapons, "terrorists" and even Russian prostitutes are smuggled "to and from Gaza". But critics of the wall say that Egypt previously turned a blind eye to the tunnels (a $1 billion industry) and never saw them as a threat to its national security. The decision to build the 30 metre deep wall to obstruct the tunnels, they say, is an Israeli-American request to perfect the blockade imposed on Gaza since 2006, and which Egypt finally acquiesced to. In court, Youssri took this point further. Egypt, he said, is contributing to a "crime against humanity" by putting an end to the remaining flow of life -- the tunnels -- to besieged Gaza. He cited the 575 page-long report of the UN Human Rights Council fact-finding mission to Gaza and Israel headed by Judge Richard Goldstone that described the blockade as a crime against humanity. Said Youssri: "The report considers the siege to be the responsibility of all parties who contribute to it, not just Israel, because states are obliged to comply with the Fourth Geneva Convention [regarding the protection of civilians during times of war and foreign occupation, which Egypt is party to]." At this point the court's head judge, Adli Farghali, asked "Is the wall a contribution to the siege of Gaza?" "It completes the blockade," replied Youssri who asked Farghali, "So how is this crime against humanity considered an act of sovereignty? What is the logic behind this?" Another lawyer, Nasser El-Hafi, who joined forces with Youssri on behalf of Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam El-Erian, addressed the court. He said that Article 1 of the Egyptian constitution stipulates that Egypt is part of the Arab world, which contradicts, he argued, the wall it is building to cut off Gaza, an act El-Hafi described as "another Sykes-Picot" in reference to the 1916 agreement between the UK and France to divide the Middle East into countries within their control. The borders set in the Arab world by these two imperial powers have remained largely intact to this day. Some of the activists Youssri represented in the case were also present in court. Abdel-Aziz El-Husseini, a Nasserist and co-founder of Kifaya (Enough), told the court "only Israel has constructed walls to isolate the Palestinians, this has always been the case. Now Egypt is also building its wall with the Palestinians." A legal source close to the case told Al-Ahram Weekly that it is "unlikely" that the court will issue a verdict in support of the case. But Youssri opted for a positive tone: "We shall win because ours is a just case." Youssri, a pan-Arab nationalist, served as Egypt's ambassador to several Arab, Asian and Western capitals and was head of the Foreign Ministry's Legal Department before retiring in 1995. Last February, he won a court verdict to stop the export of cheap, subsidised Egyptian gas to Israel until authorities set fairer prices that are compatible with international market levels. The ruling, which was issued during a butane gas shortage crisis in Egypt, also said that gas should not be exported to the detriment of local needs, and that the State Council has the right to oversee government decisions related to Egypt's "sovereignty", which includes energy supplies. The ruling has not been implemented.
