"Separation wall" protests mount
as Israel extends 30-foot high wall
into streets of Jerusalem

Mark Almberg

As cranes lowered segments of a 30-foot-high (over 9 metres) 
concrete barrier in the streets of Jerusalem on January 12, 
walling the city off from the adjoining Arab village of Abu Dis, 
the outcry against Israel's so-called "separation wall" continued 
to mount.

The wall, which so far runs about 90 miles (145km) along the 
Israeli border with the West Bank, has been the scene of numerous 
demonstrations by both Palestinian and Israeli Jewish peace 
activists over the past several months. Comparing the wall to the 
racist system of South African apartheid, protestors have sought 
to halt its construction.

The Israeli government has become increasingly belligerent toward 
the demonstrators. On December 27, Israeli troops shot and 
seriously wounded Gil Na'amati as he and others were 
demonstrating near a segment of the wall near the village of 
Maskha. A US citizen was slightly injured in the same incident. 
The shooting of Na'amati, a Jewish activist, caused an uproar in 
Israel.

The Israeli government says the wall is needed to keep out 
suicide bombers. The Palestinians, however, say the wall's real 
purpose is to facilitate a well-planned land grab.

Hanna Amireh, a leader of the Palestinian People's Party, says 
that the wall amounts to "besieging around 3 million 
Palestinians" in a tiny area — about six percent — of the West 
Bank and Gaza Strip where the Arab population is most 
concentrated.

Speaking at a conference sponsored by the European Left Forum in 
Cyprus in early December, Amireh said the wall is slated to run 
for 370 miles, much longer than the 225-mile border between the 
Palestinian territories and Israel. The discrepancy, he said, is 
attributable to the wall's "running zigzag deep into the 
Palestinian territories."

Amireh cited a report by the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs 
("not a Palestinian report", he pointedly remarked), which says 
the wall will ultimately swallow up about 48 percent of the West 
Bank, affecting 500,000 Palestinians who live in 136 residential 
areas.

The current plan calls for a 45-foot-wide strip bounded by a 
cement wall and metal fences with 757 checkpoints, including 73 
military outposts, 58 trenches, 67 road gates, and 464 mounds of 
rocks to block vehicles. The wall's economic impact on 
Palestinians will be devastating, Amireh said.

It will prevent many Palestinians from travelling to their jobs; 
block access to their fields, water sources, and vital social 
services; and divide families. Citing another report, this one by 
Amnesty International, Amireh said the wall will devastate the 
lives of at least 60 percent of Palestinians who are currently 
living on less than US$2 per day.

The Palestinian People's Party has been emphatic in its 
condemnation of suicide bombings and terrorism against innocent 
civilians. Amireh said, however, that the separation wall is not 
intended to stop terrorism. Its main aim is to further Israel's 
expansionism.

"The government of Ariel Sharon has decided unilaterally, through 
the use of the wall, to draw up greatly-reduced borders of what 
could be called a divided and fragmented Palestinian state 
without sovereignty", he said.

"New facts on the ground will reinforce the expansion of the 
Israeli settlements and will pave the way for the silent transfer 
of large numbers of Palestinian citizens" to what Amireh calls a 
"huge prison" on territory with virtually no resources.

Despite the grimness of such a prospect, Amireh said it is 
nonetheless possible to defeat the wall. Stopping the building of 
this wall is possible for several reasons, he said, citing the 
October vote of 144 countries in the United Nations condemning 
the wall, the mounting local and international campaign against 
it, and the difficulties the Bush administration has in openly 
defending it before the court of world opinion.

At this point in time, he said, "We believe that confronting the 
separation wall is the central cause in expressing solidarity 
with the Palestinian people."

The Palestinian leader also appealed for international help in 
getting Israeli troops to return to their positions before the 
most recent Intifada, so that democratic general elections can be 
held in Palestine in June; to support the Palestinian call for a 
mutual cease-fire; and to increase solidarity with peace forces 
in Israel.

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People's Weekly World Newspaper, http://www.pww.org