UNITED NATIONS – The Geneva based U.N. Human Rights Commission yesterday called on the United Nations to dissociate itself from the Middle East peace plan known as the road map, based on objections to Israel’s security barrier.

Representing the commission, eight U.N. human rights activists argued that the United Nations should pull out of the road map since Israel has not obeyed a ruling by a U.N. organ, the International Court of Justice, which called on the country to dismantle its defense barrier. The road map is sponsored by a “quartet” that includes America, the European Union, and Russia in addition to the United Nations.

Secretary-General Annan’s office yesterday declined to defend U.N. sponsorship of the plan immediately, or to respond to the legal challenge raised by the Human Rights Commission’s representatives.

The eight Human Rights Commission “mandate holders” released their statement yesterday on the anniversary of the 2004 advisory opinion on Israel’s security barrier issued by the Hague-based ICJ. In the opinion, sought by the General Assembly, the ICJ said the “wall” is illegal and advised Israel to remove it and pay reparations to its Palestinian Arab victims.

Israel’s supreme court has since issued several verdicts on the barrier, which the Israeli government said it would obey. The government said it would ignore the ICJ opinion.

“The United Nations clearly cannot make itself a party to negotiations that are not based on the opinion of its own judicial body,” the eight advocates wrote. Support and sponsorship of the road map, they added, “seem to accept the continued presence of some settlements, which were found by the ICJ to be unlawful.”

Yesterday’s release was signed by eight “rapporteurs,” contracted by the Human Rights Commission for their expertise on various rights. One of the signatories, Paul Hunt, carries the title “special rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.”

Noting that Israel’s defense minister yesterday visited Jordan, where King Abdullah urged a return to the road map, the executive director of the Geneva-based U.N. Watch, Hillel Neuer, called the rapporteurs’ attack on the road map “perplexing.”

“It is a sad day when eight U.N. officials – citing formalistic arguments over pragmatic principles of conflict resolution – openly oppose bilateral negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians that are taking place under the internationally recognized Road Map for peace,” Mr. Neuer said.