Israel's Barrier to Peace

[Mandate My Ass]

The "security fence" being built 10 miles inside the West Bank is a disgrace and was declared illegal by the International Court of Justice despite intense pressure by Israel and the US. The fence encircles whole towns, turning them into walled ghettos, and residents are required to get Israeli permits if they want to go in and out. They have to get permits to go to their fields, if they haven't been bulldozed, but much of the fertile land has been confiscated by Israel anyway. We, of course, are supplying loan guarantees for the construction of the 700+ mile concrete wall, of which over 400 miles has been completed.

http://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/20060725_israels_wall/

This long piece is very, very worth reading. It's written by Chris Hedges, a former MiddleEast bureau chief for NYT.

Please watch this movie:

http://thewallofhate.org/film/thewall.wmv

If the barrier is being built for security, why is so much of the West Bank being confiscated by Israel? Why is the barrier plunging in deep loops into the West Bank to draw far-flung settlements into Israel? Why are thousands of acres of the most fertile farmland and much of the West Bank’s aquifers being seized by Israel?

The barrier does not run along the old 1967 border or the 1949 armistice line between Israel and the Arab states, which, in the eyes of the United Nations, delineates Israel and the West Bank. It will contain at least 50% of the West Bank, including the whole of the western mountain aquifer, which supplies the West Bank Palestinians with over half their water. The barrier is the most catastrophic blow to the Palestinians since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

The barrier itself mocks any claim that it is temporary. It costs $ 1 million per mile and will run over $ 2 billion by the time it is completed. It will cut the entire 224-mile length of the West Bank off from Israel, but because of its diversions into the West Bank to incorporate Palestinian land it will be about 400 miles in length. A second barrier is being built on the Jordan River side of the West Bank. To look at a map of the barrier is to miss the point. The barrier interconnects with every other piece of Israeli-stolen real estate in Palestinian territory. And when all the pieces are in place the Israelis will no doubt offer up the little ringed puddles of poverty and despair and misery to the world as a Palestinian state.

[ThomCat]

1. This is one of the biggest war-crimes Israel is committing.

:grr:

[burythehatchet]

2. Apartheid

[Dhalgren]

3. Israel creating ethnic ghettos...it chills the heart...

[Jim__]

4. Chris Hedges is a great writer.

The American media need to do more reporting on the other side of the Palestinian/Israeli issue. The American public deserves to be informed, not misinformed.

[Mandate My Ass]

5. I consider myself to be well informed

but I got this in an email and it literally shocked me. I had no idea of the inhumane actions and degradation the Palestinians are facing along with the inability to make a living. This is the root of terrorism that needs to be addressed.

People need to know this, so I'm kicking my own thread.

[cool user name]

11. I kick my own threads all the time!

Nothing wrong with it. :hi:

If you could, please watch these two videos (the more people are informed, the more change is possible):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x137194

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x137547

[pelsar]

18. so before the wall there was no terrorism?

This is the root of terrorism that needs to be addressed

for some odd reason the statistics show the opposite......with the wall up, the number of busses and resturants being blown up in israel has dropped dramatically. and of course per 67 there was terrorism and no occuapation...

hmmm guess that means the terrorism isnt soley based on the occupation or the wall....of course those simply facts really ruin a good simplistic narration...so lets ignore them.

[IntiRaymi]

19. Typical attitude.

All people are created equal.
Keep that in mind.

[wellst0nev0ter]

13. If Only He Were To Replace Tom Friedman

as far as I know, they had similar experiences reporting the Middle East. Except that with Hedges we have more appeals to peace and decency and less mixed metaphors and joys of sweatshops.

[PA Democrat]

6. Great article and recommended reading.

7. Israel wants more land

This is what I hear from different writers.

[Mandate My Ass]

8. and water

They're taking the land with the aquifers and the fresh water wells. I suppose they'll sell the Palestinians the water they stole from them. :grr:

[Dhalgren]

9. I read one piece where the writer said that the whole

invasion of Lebanon was actually an attempt by Israel to get its border moved north to the Litani River, so as to have access to its water...

[MsMagnificent]

10. Are you familiar with

Counterpunch.org?

If not, the HIGHEST recommendation!
Browse the articles there, they will simply blow your mind! (Replete with unimpeachable quotes from pol's & high-ranking soldiers (generals, etc.) who lay it all out, right on the line.)

As soon as my subscription to Salon ends (what a waste, comparatively!) I'm joining that site's subscription... it's simply incredible.

[DemFromMem]

12. A barrier that has kept people alive

How many suicide bombers have succeeded since the barrier went up? For Israelis, this is about staying alive. The wall works. If that is "hateful," too bad. By the way, who do you think originally proposed the barrier? Ariel Sharon or a Likudnik? No. It was that "hateful" Yitzhak Rabin and he proposed it AFTER Oslo.

[Violet_Crumble]

14. Rabin did NOT propose that at all!

If yr of the belief that he proposed a wall that took in chunks of the West Bank, then yr information is very very incorrect. There was a proposal for a wall along the Green Line, and Sharon was strongly opposed to it because it would mean an end to his beloved settlement-building enterprise. If the purpose of this wall was to save lives, then it should have been built on the Green Line rather than building it inside Palestinian territory with the purpose of taking for future annexation more Palestinian territory...

[DemFromMem]

15. Correct

So are you saying you are fine with the wall if it is along the green line? Because that's a different position than many are taking on your side of the aisle. I'd actually be fine with that and I think it will eventually come to that. Rabin was for a wall. And most of the wall, correct me if I'm wrong IS along the green line. So the focus should reasonably be on getting Israel to agree to move the wall in the few locations in dispute.

Of course, Israel has never said it would NOT move the barrier when the final deal is reached with the Pale stinians. Folks just assume Israel has imposed a de facto new border even though Israel has never said that would be the case.

Moving the wall will, in my opinion, be easier when the West Bank settlers are evacuated like their Gaza counterparts, something that is still official Israeli policy and something that I still believe will happen. In fact, I think the whole current conflagration in the region stems from this very fact.

Israel withdrew from Gaza and Lebanon Hamas and Hezbollah perceived this as a show of weakness. Rather than proceeding to move forward with nation building, they used Israel's withdrawal as a way to score political points with their constituencies. The kidnappings, rocket attacks, etc all are part and parcel of their internal power building. Israel needed to send a powerful message that when it withdraws from the West Bank it will NOT be due to weakness and that it will respond harshly to provocations.

If there is a silver lining in what we are now seeing, it might actually make it possible to move further along the road to a two state solution.

[Douglas Carpenter]

16. this from the wonderful people at B'Tselem - The Israeli Information

Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories

and this from the wonderful, wonderful people of B'tselem




The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories - link:

http://www.btselem.org/english/Maps/Inde...

Map of the Separation Barrier in the West Bank



On February 20 2005, the Israeli government approved an updated route for the Separation Barrier. According to the map published by the Ministry of Defense, sections of the revised route will run close to or along the Green Line, thus reducing the harm caused to the daily life of Palestinians living in proximity to the route.

Despite these improvements, the new route does not eliminate the “fingers” which reach deep into the West Bank to surround the Ariel and Qedumim settlements. In addition, a new section of the Barrier has been added around Ma'ale Adumim and the settlements near it. In these locations, the government approved the route in principle. More detailed plans will be developed and will require approval by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense. Given the central location of these settlements, constructing the barrier around them will have widespread ramifications on the freedom of movement for the Palestinian population in the West Bank.
__________

Map of The Separation Barrier and Checkpoints in the Jerusalem area



The government's plan calls for the separation barrier to surround East Jerusalem and detach it from the rest of the West Bank. The decision to run the barrier along the municipal border, and the weak arguments given to explain that decision, lead to the conclusion that the primary consideration was political: the unwillingness of the government to pay the political price for choosing a route that will contradict the myth, that "unified Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel."
________________

[Douglas Carpenter]

17. World Court's Ruling on Wall Speaks with Utmost Clarity -- 14-1 decision

link:

http://www.globalpolicy.org/wldcourt/icj/2004/0727utmost.htm
"By Nidal Sliman*
MERIP -
July 27, 2004

The International Court of Justice has rendered its advisory opinion on "the legal consequences arising from the construction of the wall being built by Israel, the occupying power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem." Though the near-term fate of the wall is unclear, subject as it is to international power politics, the Court's ruling, issued on July 9, speaks with the utmost clarity.

The wall is illegal. Israel must dismantle it, and pay compensation to Palestinians who have suffered financial or property losses as a result of its construction. No state should recognize the barrier as legitimate. The UN should act to implement the court's decision. On July 21, the General Assembly of the UN overwhelmingly agreed with the ICJ opinion, by a vote of 150-6 with ten abstentions. Interestingly, the General Assembly requested that the secretary-general register all damages caused to the Palestinians by the wall's construction. "

link to full article regarding the World Court's 14-1 Decision:

link:

http://www.globalpolicy.org/wldcourt/icj/2004/0727utmost.htm