The Apartheid Wall

Conference Three

Introduction:

Especially after the provocative 'grandstand' of Ariel Sharon on the steps of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the eruption of another Intifada (29 September 2000), the Palestinians experienced one shock after another. The occupying power laid sieges to public buildings and residential quarters, carried out indiscriminate assaults from tanks, helicopters and military watchtowers on traumatized civilians and bystanders, killed or wounded them, targeted children, assassinated individuals, occasionally used poisonous gases, prevented medical teams to function effectively, carried out collective punishment, demolished edifices, shelled even academic institutions, damaged mosques and churches, devastated livestocks and agricultural complexes, raised industrial enterprises to ground, bulldozered water wells, destroyed crops, uprooted trees, pursued arrest campaigns, prolongated detentions with no charge or trial, applied torture under detention, transferred them illegally, set strict criteria for release of prisoners, helped the illegal extension of Jewish settlements, closed commercial stores, tightened curfews, denied the Palestinians access to their work places, and harassed, arrested, wounded and even killed local and foreign journalists who documented these crimes. All these crimes have been documented as to names, places and dates. The total losses upon the Palestinian industrial sector (until 30 June 2002) reached $1.164 billion.

The racist Wall:

What were described above were bad enough. But perhaps worse, in a way, was the creation of a wall, described by various commentators as a "huge barrier, racist construction, separation barricade, a tool of settlement expansion or an apartheid partition". Although the previous Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is known to have brought up the issue of the so-called "security fence", racial discrimination goes to a much earlier date and attitude, as expressed by the assassinated PM Yitzhak Rabin who said: "We are here, and they are there". The separation barrier, snaking into the Palestinian-owned lands, is composed of thick cement walls, deep ditches, and high-voltage electric fences. Pushing the Green Line aside, the wall now introduces a 'new border'. It stretches from northeastern part of the West Bank to its southern most region and to the east of the Green Line and swallows vast arable and fertile Palestinian lands, isolating residential areas, forcing the indigenous residents to take refuge once more, and creating several hazardous economic and social consequences. The wall's length in the West Bank is 360 kilometers, and the width ranges between 80 and 100 meters. It penetrates some kilometers into Palestinian territory, for instance, ten kilometers into Salfit City. Some of the Palestinians houses are left between the saparation wall and the illegal settlements. The wall has racist features because it is designed to separate two peoples, who had lived in peace some time in the distant past. Now, there are barbed wires to obstruct access. Between East and West Jerusalem, there is also a separation wall, ostensibly 11 kilometers but actually 57 km. because it also snakes into Palestinian (and Jewish) areas. Here too, it swallows vast Palestinian lands, forcing Arab Jerusalemites to get out of or enter Jerusalem through special Israeli gates. The total surface area lost to the Palestinians, on account of the separation wall, adds up to 164.783 dunums (about ¼ acre) of Palestinian agricultural land. Some of the U.S. financial support of $9 billion will probably be used for the wall and Jewish settlements, none of which can help bring peace and security to the area.

What has the “WALL” resulted in?


Some of the most fertile land as well as an important number of water resources in the West Bank have been confiscated. The construction of the wall has already destroyed thousands of olive trees as well as other agricultural resources upon which the Palestinians depend for their livelihood. "Enclosure" is having a devastating effect on Palestinian daily life and commerce at all levels. Farmers are separated from their lands, children are separated from their schools, families are divided, workers can no longer reach their work sites. The Palestinians as well as the Israeli peace movement believe that this "Apartheid Wall" is the beginning of a master plan of economic strangulation in order to force the Palestinians into exile, what is referred to here as "transfer", and the ultimate realization of Eretz Israel. Whether or not transfer is actually accomplished, the "Isolation" of the West Bank will effectively negate any possibility of the creation of a viable Palestinian state, turning it rather into a grouping of disconnected entities resembling open-air prisons surrounded by Israeli checkpoints and Jewish settlements. The apartheid wall is going to cause political, economic and social changes. It is not a temporary measure; it has permanent implications. It forces the Palestinians to pay an incredible price in land, water, economic viability and environmental stability. It isolates them from medical centers, schools, the main water network and telephone services. It gives Israel the opportunity to dominate all the strategic sites of fresh water. It runs the risk of creating a new generation of refugees. It can only undermine the peace process and the Road Map and constitute another barrier in front of the creation of a Palestinian state. References: http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/E.CN.4.2004.NGO.78.En?Opendocument http://www.palestinemonitor.org/Special%20Section/Closure/the_wall.htm

About Me

Hi my name is : Muneer Hidmi
I was born in my city in jerusalem in 1980 i love it

So mutch
I fineshed my study before four years ago in AL Quds University
My Mager was Computer Science
I work in NGO Institution for Health & Social Development in West Bank and Gaza
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