The Eastern Wall - Closing the Circle of Our Ghettoization

[Wordie]

The Eastern Wall
Closing the Circle of Our Ghettoization
by Jamal Juma

December 24, 2005

More than a year has passed since the Occupation Forces declared the completion of the first section of the Apartheid Wall - running from Jenin to Qalqiliya. Rapid construction around Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron marks the second phase of the project. Meanwhile, away from public attention, the Occupation has begun the third phase of the Wall, which will annex and ethnically cleanse the Jordan Valley. Under the rubric of “development,” the Valley has become a “Major Governmental Project” for settlement expansion. The result has been the destruction of Palestinian land, increased house demolitions, and the expulsion of Palestinian Bedouins. Last week, two of the four “terminals” controlling Palestinian movement in and out of the area were closed to all Palestinians not residing there, thus completely isolating the northern areas of the Jordan Valley. In the south, “flying checkpoints” exclude Palestinians without residency permits recognized by the Occupation – including land owners.

The final step in the annexation of the Valley has begun.

In order to finalize the annexation of the Valley, (Israelis) have invested $24 million for “development” over the last two years, with a further $19 million slated for 2006 to 2008. Extensive land theft forms the backbone of the ethnic cleansing project in the Jordan Valley. Of the 2,400 km2 of land in the Valley, 455.7 km2 is considered “closed military areas,” 1655.5 km2 will be controlled by settlements, and 243 km2 has been confiscated along the border with Jordan, This leaves only 45 km2 for Palestinians.

While Palestinians in the Jordan Valley are forced to live in shacks and host entire schools in tents...settlers are building a new era of racist dispossession, oppression and expulsion. The final aim is to ensure that the region, once emptied of its Palestinian population, becomes a major (Israeli) strategic asset and provides large-scale agricultural and natural resources to sustain their economy and expansion. In the south, construction of the eastern Wall has begun near Eizzariya and will soon encircle Bethlehem and Hebron from the east and cut the West Bank in two.

The noose around the neck of the Palestinian people is rapidly tightening.

In the face of this reality, the frenzied debates about whether new Labor leader Peretz is a “peace dove”...to promise a “Palestinian state” seem outlandish. These debates aim merely to silence the urgent Palestinian call to isolate Apartheid Israel and avert the world’s attention from the ongoing colonization of Palestinian land, a process that has always been fervently carried out by both Labor and Likud administrations. At this stage, a two state solution might be theoretically controversial; but it has become practically impossible. Negotiations for statehood without borders, a capital, or land merely deceive our people and the rest of the world.

Jamal Juma`

Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign – www.stopthewall.org

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=9398

The article states that while the expulsion of Palestinians is destroying the urban center of Palestinian life, the concurrent annexation of the Jordan Valley is stealing the land and water resources of the Palestinians and severely limiting their agricultural economy. It further points out that the Israeli government has approved a project, with $22 million of government subsidies, for settler agricultural expansion in the Jordan Valley, giving them access to land and water that rightly belong to the Palestinians.

Is this being done for "security" purposes? Has the definition of "security" now been expanded to include economic advantages to the Israelis?