A Wall Far Too Far - in Palestine

A Wall Far Too Far
For Pressenza International Press Agency
4 May 2010

Bridges are for communicating, walls are for segregating, and this is all too clear in the wall of apartheid built by Israel in Wad Rahal village, Palestine. “This wall means Israel has in effect confiscated 120 dunams of our village land (a dunam is 1,000 square metres). This has led to the inability of landowners to work in cultivation of crops or livestock,” cries villager Shado Mohmmad, who is also Coordinator of the Division of Resistance to the Wall in the city of Bethlehem.

Wad Rahal replants olive trees while Israeli forces attack!

On March 30, 2010, Israeli forces shut down a day of voluntary work in this southern Bethlehem village of Wad Rahal: “The day was organized by the Palestinian Center for Peace and Democracy, to replant uprooted olive trees that was damage done in works related to that nearby Israeli settlement of Efrat and for the construction of a dividing Wall,” explains Shado Mohmmad. “Israeli soldiers beat several of the volunteers who were helping in the planting. It was the occasion of Palestinian Land Day.”

At the time participants held banners declaring against the occupation and in support of the 32nd anniversary of Land Day.

Land Day is seen as a pivotal event in the struggle over land and in the relationship of Arab citizens to the Israeli state and body politic. It holds significance in that it was the first time since 1948 that Arabs in Israel organized a response to Israeli policies as a Palestinian national collective. Today it is an important annual day of commemoration in the Palestinian national political calendar, it is marked not only by Arab citizens of Israel, but by Palestinians all over the world.

The banners used on that day also highlighted the decision in the Hague against the Wall - by the International Court of Justice, principal judicial organ of the United Nations.

The advisory opinion was given on 9 July 2004 under the title: Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “The Court finds that the construction by Israel of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and its associated régime are contrary to international law.”

The legal consequences arising from that illegality were stated:

A - ... contrary to international law”;

B. Israel is under an obligation to terminate its breaches of international law; it is under an obligation to cease forthwith the works of construction of the wall ... to dismantle forthwith the structure”;

C. Israel is under an obligation to make reparation for all damage caused by the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem”;

D. All States are under an obligation not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction;... to ensure compliance by Israel with international humanitarian law”;

E. The United Nations, and especially the General Assembly and the Security Council, should consider what further action is required to bring to an end the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall and the associated régime, taking due account of the present Advisory Opinion.”

Participants in the protest reported that guards from the Efrat Settlement surrounded the volunteers. Soldiers fired at Wad Rahal school children who had started throwing stones.

For its part, sources from the Palestinian Centre said all efforts are geared toward the 2004 International Court of Justice ruling against the Wall in hopes that it will some day be honoured via the United Nations Security Council.

In brief, the ruling stated that the Wall must be removed and that Palestinians must be compensated for their losses.

The Palestinian Centre for Peace and Democracy (PCPD) is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation inspired by the principle that the future of Palestine lies in an independent democratic state in which there is full respect for human rights, acknowledgement of the importance of freedom of expression and assembly, recognition of every human's innate right to participate in governance and a vibrant civil society as stipulated in the Palestinian Declaration of Independence of 1988.

“Respect for human rights, tolerance towards each other, participation by all, accountability and the rule of law are the pillars upon which our Centre's work is founded, ended Shado Mohmmad. ““We welcome anyone who wants to support the Palestinian people to come to visit Palestine and see the situation and how the villages suffer such a lot due to the presence of the wall that separates the Palestinians and Israelis.”

Writers: shado mohmmad - wad.r@hotmail.com, and Tony Henderson