The Israeli Apartheid Wall

A new element of occupation and disposession

The Wall: Human Rights violations in carefully planned stages

The wall serves purposes that go way beyond any Israeli security needs. The wall consolidates Israel's illegal settlements through the (again) illegal confiscation of land. The wall severs the ties of thousands of Palestinians from their homes, schools, families, towns, farms, and water. Future stages of the wall, carefully held secret by the Israeli government but discerned by the careful examination of military land confiscation orders (and reported upon by B'tselem, the Israeli human rights organization), indicate that the final stages of the wall are planned to completely surround the Palestinians and divide them into cantons and ghettos, permanent prisoners and refugees in their own land. The final stages of the wall don't even get close to Israel's own border on the Green line.

Most of the wall's route in Stage 1 is located within the Palestinian's West Bank. As a result, the wall along this part of the route will infringe the human rights of more than 210,000 Palestinians who live in 67 towns and villages: 13 communities, containing 11,700 residents, will become enclaves trapped between the wall and the Green Line; the wall's winding route and the additional wall (the depth barrier) east of the separation wall will turn 19 other villages, in which 128,500 Palestinians live, into enclaves; 36 villages situated east of the separation wall or depth barrier, containing 72,200 residents, will be separated from a substantial part of their farmland, which lies west of the walls.

A wall, barrier, or fence? There has been much debate between pro-"fence" and anti-"wall" people about the nature of this beast. William Safire in a particularly chilling editorial refered to it as the "defence fence," chosing to ignore its more sinister results and on whose land it is being built. In some places, it is a multilayered barbed wire and electronic fence system 30 to 100 meters wide with patrol roads and ditches and no-man's land. In other places, it is a 24 foot tall concrete wall complete with guard towers and patrol roads and no-man's land. This wall will be longer than the Berlin wall and confiscates wide swaths of Palestinian land. Whatever you call it, fence or wall or barrier, it's path through the West Bank shows utter disregard for the rights and humanity of Palestinians.

Barbed Wire and Tear Gas frame demonstrators protesting Israel's wall. Click here for more pictures

For more information . . .

Click Here for information about the wall from Stop The Wall Campaign, the Grassroots Palestinian anti-Apartheid wall campaign.

Click Here for information about the wall from PENGON, The Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network.

Click Here for information on the wall on the United Nations web site entitled "The West Bank Barrier"

Click Here for the report entitled " July 2003 HUMANITARIAN STATUS REPORT -- The West Bank WALL- Mapping the Northern Trajectory" created by the United Nations Office for The Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Click Here for UN Data on the impact of the wall on 28 communities in the West Bank (Abobe PDF format).

Click Here for more information on the wall from Gush Shalom.

Click Here for information on the wall from B'Tselem.

The Wall: An Obstacle on the Road to Peace -- Arab American Institute

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What People Say . . .

"I think the wall is a problem...it is very difficult to develop confidence between the Palestinians and Israel. with a wall snaking through the West Bank." -- President Bush, July 25, 2003

"It's when the fence begins to intrude on land that is not on the Israeli side of the Green Line or starts to intrude in a way that makes it more difficult for us to make the case for a viable Palestinian state ... it is appropriate for us to say to our Israeli friends we have a problem here," -- Secretary of State Colin Powell Colin Powell

"The green line is more than five kilometres from here," he said. "Why is the wall only 40 metres from our houses? Why do they need to build it so close?"

"The people of Mas'ha understand the message of the colonial security forces: 'surrender, call off the protests, tell the solidarity activists to go home, and we'll let you live, sort of ..'" -- You Belong in the Past

"We believe this wall will force people to move out to nearby villages or emigrate to Jordan." -- Letter from Qalqiliya

"There is only one thing I can do. I will buy a tent and move with my wife to live the other side of the fence among my trees," he said.
"I don't know if the Israelis will let me do it. They certainly won't let me build a house. But perhaps I can live in a tent."

"[The Military order] informed us we had to meet an Israeli army officer the next week and follow him to see the route of the wall. Hundreds of people turned out. We were shocked, very shocked, when we saw where it was going. People burst into tears. Some fainted." -- Jayyous Resident as reported in the Guardian