Apartheid Wall in Palestine

Bad Fences make Bad Neighbors

Update- The International Court of Justice has ruled this wall illegal, and has stated that it must come down.  See here.

It is important to understand what the separation wall/fence means to the Palestinians, how it will increase land confiscation, and will increase their poverty and hunger.  Though this barrier, to be some 400 miles long,  is being billed as something that will bring security to Israelis, it is very unlikely to do so, given the injustice being done to the Palestinian people.  It is appropriately being called the Apartheid Wall by the Palestinians, and though the South African government never actually built such a monstrosity, it is based on the idea that the Palestinians are to be restricted to small Bantustans, and the Israelis are to control what land the Palestinians might be able to access, similar to the apartheid system recently discarded in South Africa. 

 

Some facts to consider:

 This Wall confiscates land.  The Wall is not being built along the pre-1967 line between the West Bank and Israel, but at times deep inside the West Bank.  This is de-facto annexation of Palestinian land, some 50% of the West Bank.  This is illegal under international law. 

This wall will destroy communities, and will force ethnic cleansing.  Some Palestinian communities, or nearly 16% of the Palestinian population of the West Bank, will be on the west side, or Israeli-side of the barrier.   They will not be granted Israeli citizenship, but neither will they be able to access Palestinian city centers.  They will be separated from their extended families, and Palestinian job centers, and any future Palestinian "state".  It will create ghettos.  This will force many to leave these communities if they can, and this is forced ethnic cleansing.  This is a war crime. 

Some of the land taken represents some of the most fertile land of the West Bank.  In some places, farmers will no longer have access to their crops.  Their homes will be on one side of the wall, their crops on the opposite side.  It is a theft of vital resources for the people of the West Bank. 

The official Bush administration view is that the Wall is a "problem", yet there are no actual plans to delay or obstruct its sponsorship of the project.  Many politicians have lined up in support of the Wall, including Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (see more here).  There has been no statement from Congresswoman Barbara Lee's office on this issue. 

Yet the international community is protesting in ever increasing numbers.  See this Statement made to the UN Commission on Human Rights made by Amnesty International, here.

There have been numerous protests at the site of the wall itself, by both Palestinians directly affected and the international community.  Israeli peace activists have also participated in these protests, and one of these protesters was shot in the legs with live ammunition by the Israeli military for his trouble. 

For more information, background, it is suggested you check the following site: 

Stop the Wall - great analysis as well as reporting of protests against the Wall. 

Human Rights Watch- Analysis of the human rights violations posed by the Wall.