Since that time there have been two Palestinian uprisings protesting the Israeli occupation of their land. The latest ‘intifada’ began in September 2000 and since that time there has been an escalation in a cycle of terror on both sides. The building of the wall is in effect the latest development in this cycle.
When President Bush promised an independent Palestinian state (not dictated by Israel), many Palestinians dreamt of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. However the walls that are being built, cut huge portions of this land and when all the barriers are built it is thought there will not be enough land for a state, moving peace ever further away from the Middle East.
The building of this wall will have damaging implications upon the Palestinian people, that appear to have no say in the matter. Palestinians, who used to be able to travel to work, although with difficulty, now face another barrier. An example of this is a man who used to work in east Jerusalem that now has to get up at 3.30am to start his journey from the West Bank town of Yatta in order to get to work on time. He has to use back-roads, scramble over mountains and constantly change cars to avoid Israeli check points. The implication of the wall means that he has to now walk five miles a day and use six different cars. In effect the wall is cutting off the Palestinians from the city. There are also plans of a wall being built parallel to the western barrier that would cut off Palestinian towns from the fertile Jordan Valley. Many Palestinians see Israel’s ‘security’ wall as a land grabbing exercise. Of the 22% of mandate Palestine the Palestinians were left with (under occupation), the wall when completely built, will leave them with less than half of this (10% to be exact).
The wall has engulfed many villages, virtually sealing them off from the world as the wall loops around their perimeters (an example is Hable). There are gates to these villages, but they are only opened three times a day, severely effecting the movement of Palestinian people. A pregnant twenty-year old had to wait two hours for her ambulance to get through Israeli roadblocks and checkpoints, all resulting from the construction of the wall. The woman, summarises the general Palestinian view by explaining ‘No one can work. No one can do any business. We can’t meet our relatives, we are just in a big jail.’ Is there any real justification for this?
Israel’s justification for the barrier is that it is required to stem the flow of more than 100 suicide bombers into Israeli towns that have resulted in at least 552 civilian deaths. One of the worst of these attacks was when an Islamic Jihad woman blew herself up in a restaurant, killing 20 people.
The United Nations General Assembly passed a 144 votes to four a resolution demanding that Israel stops its construction of the barrier deeming it “in contradiction to international law”. However Israel’s response to this, given by an Israeli Ministry of Defence spokeswoman (Rachel Naidak-Ashkenazi) said that international anger was misplaced because it misunderstood the ‘rationale’ of the fence. The Americans are threatening to deduct the cost of sections that stray too far from the internationally recognised Green line dividing Israel from the West Bank from 9$billion of loan guarantees it has given to Israel.
In response to this (the American threat) Israel has agreed not to join the new stretches of fence east of Ariel and Kedumim to the main fence for the time being, but to leave a gap, pending further discussions with the USA.
In conclusion Israel’s security wall is being built at the cost of Palestinian livelihood. Farmers are being separated from their crops, families from their relatives and those in need of medical treatment are being delayed or stopped from reaching hospitals. Israel hasn’t considered the consequences of building the wall for the Palestinians, and is not bothered by them. Perhaps the most objectionable consequence for Palestinians is they are now under further control of the Israelis, taking them one step back along their journey towards independence.
