A United Nations human rights investigator calls on the Israeli leadership to cease the construction of the now 7-year old Apartheid Wall in the West Bank.

"Tear down that wall, Mr. Netanyahu," said the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Richard Falk on Thursday addressing the Israeli prime minister, UN News Center reported.

He made the comments in The Hague at a conference on the fifth anniversary of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) issuance of the Advisory Opinion which denounced Tel Aviv’s erection of the 723-kilometer (449-mile) barrier as illegal.

"There will be no peace between these two peoples until Israel shows respect for Palestinian rights under international law," said Falk. "And a good place to start would be with the wall," he added.

In 2002, the Zionist regime started building the barrier in the West Bank village of Ni’lin, arrogating vast expanses of Palestinian land under the pretext of "protecting" Israeli settlers from "terrorist attacks" by the Palestinian resistance movements. In comparison, the Berlin wall was only 155 kilometers in length.

In response to Falk, the Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a statement claiming that the ICJ’s "attack" was a result of "a politically-motivated maneuver."

"Israel cannot accept this politicization of the Court… If there were no terrorism, there would be no fence," said the statement. "Israel calls on the international community not to lend its hand to the ongoing Palestinian attempts to use international forums to avoid fulfilling their own commitment to fight terrorism."

(Press TV)