Israeli 'security wall'

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday October 16, 2002 18:40 by Publo & Shane Ramallah, Palestine

(photos included now)

Article and photos on the new Israeli wall.

A big wall. Racist in nature, designed to annex a
fair bit of the West Bank and destroy the lives of
thousands and thousands.
Already, a critical amount of the West Bank has been
conquered and annexed by Israel. The israeli
road network, which Palestinians may not travel
along, serves to divide the territorial integrity of any
future Palestinian state, linking one illegal
colonial settlement to another.
Israel has decided to build this wall which will
eventually run the entire length of the West Bank,
ostensibly for security purposes. Palestinians
oppose the wall, primarily because they fear it is a
unilaterally imposed border for a future state.
Sharon himself does not want to build this will for he
regards it also as a border that will not include
all of the west bank within the Israeli State.
The direct effects of the wall are enormous.
Farmland has been confiscated by the IDF, and destroyed
in order for construction to begin. It is estimated
that over 80,000 dunums (4 Dunum=1 acre) of
farmland will be lost. The areas bordering the wall
have been declared closed zones by the military,
thus in order to remain there or to enter,
inhabitants are required to get a permit from the IDF
commander.
In the village of Jayyus between Tulkarm and
Qalqilya, 8,600 of the municipality's 13,750 dunums will
be on the israeli side of the wall. Although an iDF
commander told the mayor that the villagers could
access their land once the wall was built, there is
no gate marked on the map and the word of an
Israeli soldier is useless - worse than useless, its
humiliating.
The confiscation orders were left hanging from trees
for the villagers to find. Recently tanks have been
patrolloing the area scaring people who are trying
to get in what will probaly be their last olive harvest.
The wall will come to within 200m of the village,
robbing hothouses, 5 wells, Lemon and orange groves
as well as many vital olive trees.

The town of Qalqilya is that most drastically
affected by the wall. A pop. of 40,000+, Qalqilya was
destroyed during the '67 war by Uzi Narkees, after
its population was driven out by Israeli forces. After
45 days they were allowed return thanks to
international pressure on Israel, a move that The Israeli
defence minister at the time, Moyshe Dayan, said in
Feb, 2002 was 'a fatal mistake'.

Only 13 Km from the Mediteranean, Qalqilya will be
compltely encircled by the wall. In 1979 Sharon
unveiled his plan of 'seven stars' which aimed to
encircle qalqilya with settlements - and which has
been enthusiastically implemented. Construction is
well under way and the pictures show the finished
wall in the west of the town. To enter the town last
week from the north we had to drive off road past
some settlements, get out of the taxi, run accross a
settler-isreali only road, and get another cab.
Once the wall is fully up this will be impossible
and the inhabitants of the town will only be able to enter
and leave via a single road, which is closed to
vehicles. Theres a roadblock and an IDF military camp
on the road - effectively making the town a giant
internment camp.

The wall will also cut the population off from its
agricultural lands. 2850 dunum will be stolen and kept
on the israeli side of the wall including orchards,
citrus groves, greenhouses, 19 wells, apiarys,
beehives and livestock. Over 700 families are
reliant on this land and they will lose all their income.

What the Israelis are doing here is illegal under
International law. The right to property, travel, work,
education as well as a prohibition of annexation are
all well established under international
humanitarian law. There is no excuse - israels
claims military necessity and security, but the real
reason for this destruction is to push the
Palestinian people from their land. It is a racist venture. It is a
hopeless situation, the wall is built, who can stop
it. Stand too close and you'll be shot.