[antiwar-van] November 9/The Wall

[Ken]

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY. 

The following message is for your information and action.

 

 

NOVEMBER 9TH - INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST AGAINST THE WALL

 

 

Encouraged by international inaction, Israel is currently constructing what it refers to as a "security fence" that will effectively encircle the entire occupied West Bank.  Better described as an Apartheid Wall, the wall will serve to imprison West Bank Palestinians and incorporate more of their land and water.  The Wall's construction is estimated to cost over $1.5 billion US, a feat that would not be possible without Washington's acquiescence and funds.  

 

When completed, the Apartheid Wall will include a large section to create a "buffer zone" in the Jordan Valley.  At 1000 kilometres in length (30 times longer than the infamous Berlin Wall) and standing 8 metres high, it will result in the largest prison in the world.  The Wall will include armed concrete towers, a zone of 120-350 metres for trenches, electric fences, cameras, sensors, and security patrols.  It will also encroach dramatically on Palestinian owned land and water resources and cut off Palestinians from schools, businesses and public services.  

 

Eighteen Palestinian populations to the west will be isolated and nineteen more will be squeezed by its curves, thereby totally restricting the movements of their inhabitants.  A further 200,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem will be cut off from the West Bank.  The Wall will inherently define Israel's envisioned borders for a future Palestinian state by encircling the 47% (or less) of the West Bank it is willing to cede to such a state.  Without prior negotiation or agreement, Israel will thus gain control over all of historic Palestine (including the Gaza Strip) by confining Palestinians to isolated enclaves.

 

Thus far, 90 km. of the Wall have been completed with already devastating effects.  According to the Palestine Monitor (Ramallah) and the Palestine Environmental NGOs Network, "more than 1500 acres, one third of the town of Qalqilya, have been confiscated."  The Qalqilya, Jenin, and Tul Karim area is "the most important agricultural basket in the West Bank, producing about 42% of all its fruit and vegetables.  At present, 18,000 residents from nine villages, together with 19 artesian wells, are trapped to the west, between Israel and the Wall."  The Wall will result in 31 water wells being annexed into Israel, thereby denying Palestinians 4 million square metres of their water each year.  Tens of thousands of trees will be bull-dozed and the hydrology of the watersheds will be drastically affected.     

 

The Wall will suffocate Palestinians economically and lead to the fragmentation of their social fabric.  Apart from preventing the emergence of a viable Palestinian state, the Wall will precipitate further ethnic-cleansing of West Bank Palestinians by making their lives so utterly unbearable that many will be forced to emigrate. 

 

In response to this gross violation of international human rights law (including the Fourth Geneva Convention), Sunday, November 9th (coinciding with the fall of the Berlin Wall) has been designated International Day of Protest Against the Wall.  To keep abreast of international events planned for this day visit the Stop the Wall Campaign's website at stopthewall.org/worldwideactivism/62.shtml.  For more information on the specifics of the Wall go to www.stopthewall.org 

 

In Vancouver, members of peace and Palestinian solidarity groups will be demonstrating to mark the International Day of Protest Against the Wall.  A mock Wall will be constructed on the street displaying information, maps and facts about the Apartheid Wall. Sunday, Nov. 9, 12:30 - 3:00pm. Meeting place: Robson Street side of the Art Gallery. 


For more information contact: support at canpalnet.ca
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