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Wall-FenceIsrael and Palestine
Is it an apartheid wall as the Palestinians believe ... or a security fence as Israel maintains ... or a new border? is it all of the above? Why is it critical to call it a fence and not a wall?
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Sharon defies US on West Bank fence to cut into West Bank
News: "Sharon defies US on West Bank fence to cut into West Bank | By Justin Huggler in Jerusalem | 01 October 2003
The fence that Israel is building to seal off the West Bank will enclose a Jewish settlement deep inside the occupied territories, Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister, has said.
His vow on the settlement in Ariel, in defiance of US pressure, came as William Burns, a State Department official, said the growth of Jewish settlements 'could threaten the future of Israel as a Jewish democracy'.
The 'separation fence' is a series of concrete walls and high metal fences. Israel claims the sole aim is to stop would-be suicide bombers crossing into Israel but that claim is belied by the fact the fence is not being built along the 1967 'Green Line' that divides Israel from the occupied West Bank. Instead, it cuts deep inside the West Bank, and Palestinians and international observers alike, including Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's National Security Adviser, have said it appears to be an attempt to grab more land.
The US has been pressing Israel to build the fence along the Green Line. In particular, the US urged Israel not to go ahead with the Ariel section, which will have to cut 17 miles into the West Bank so the settlement is on the "Israeli" side.
News: "Sharon defies US on West Bank fence to cut into West Bank | By Justin Huggler in Jerusalem | 01 October 2003
The fence that Israel is building to seal off the West Bank will enclose a Jewish settlement deep inside the occupied territories, Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister, has said.
His vow on the settlement in Ariel, in defiance of US pressure, came as William Burns, a State Department official, said the growth of Jewish settlements 'could threaten the future of Israel as a Jewish democracy'.
The 'separation fence' is a series of concrete walls and high metal fences. Israel claims the sole aim is to stop would-be suicide bombers crossing into Israel but that claim is belied by the fact the fence is not being built along the 1967 'Green Line' that divides Israel from the occupied West Bank. Instead, it cuts deep inside the West Bank, and Palestinians and international observers alike, including Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's National Security Adviser, have said it appears to be an attempt to grab more land.
The US has been pressing Israel to build the fence along the Green Line. In particular, the US urged Israel not to go ahead with the Ariel section, which will have to cut 17 miles into the West Bank so the settlement is on the "Israeli" side.
UN rights report slams Israeli wall as illegal Palestinian annexation
Yahoo! News - UN rights report slams Israeli wall as illegal Palestinian annexation: "UN rights report slams Israeli wall as illegal Palestinian annexation Tue, Sep 30, 2003
GENEVA (AFP) - The controversial barrier being built by Israel through the West Bank amounts to the illegal annexation of Palestinian territory and must be condemned by the international community, a UN human rights report said.
The UN special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, John Dugard warned in a report that the wall erected in recent months would incorporate 'substantial areas' of the West Bank into Israel.
'The evidence strongly suggests that Israel is determined to create facts on the ground amounting to de facto annexation,' the report said.
'Annexation of this kind, known as conquest in international law, is prohibited by the Charter of the United Nations (news - web sites) and the Fourth Geneva Convention,' it added.
Dugard also said 'the time has come to condemn the wall as an unlawful act of annexation in the same way that Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights has been condemned as unlawful'.
The takeover of East Jerusalem and the seizure of the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 both followed the Six Day War and were condemned in UN Security Council resolutions. "
Yahoo! News - UN rights report slams Israeli wall as illegal Palestinian annexation: "UN rights report slams Israeli wall as illegal Palestinian annexation Tue, Sep 30, 2003
GENEVA (AFP) - The controversial barrier being built by Israel through the West Bank amounts to the illegal annexation of Palestinian territory and must be condemned by the international community, a UN human rights report said.
The UN special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, John Dugard warned in a report that the wall erected in recent months would incorporate 'substantial areas' of the West Bank into Israel.
'The evidence strongly suggests that Israel is determined to create facts on the ground amounting to de facto annexation,' the report said.
'Annexation of this kind, known as conquest in international law, is prohibited by the Charter of the United Nations (news - web sites) and the Fourth Geneva Convention,' it added.
Dugard also said 'the time has come to condemn the wall as an unlawful act of annexation in the same way that Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights has been condemned as unlawful'.
The takeover of East Jerusalem and the seizure of the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 both followed the Six Day War and were condemned in UN Security Council resolutions. "
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Separation fence ... will include remote-control machine guns
That well-developed military creativity: "That well-developed military creativity By Amira Hass Wednesday, September 24, 2003
The degree to which the Israel Defense Forces think ahead can be seen from two reports by Felix Frisch published on the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth's Web site, Ynet. The first, from September 21, relates that 'the separation fence to be built in the Gilboa region will include remote-control machine guns that will be operated by female soldiers from their command posts and will shoot at those suspected of being terrorists.' The second, from September 22, relates that the IDF is already thinking about how to cope with the possibility that the Palestinians will dig tunnels under the separation fence, or cross over it by means of ropes or bridges stretched between the roofs on either side of the concrete wall, which, in built-up areas, divides buildings and streets. "
That well-developed military creativity: "That well-developed military creativity By Amira Hass Wednesday, September 24, 2003
The degree to which the Israel Defense Forces think ahead can be seen from two reports by Felix Frisch published on the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth's Web site, Ynet. The first, from September 21, relates that 'the separation fence to be built in the Gilboa region will include remote-control machine guns that will be operated by female soldiers from their command posts and will shoot at those suspected of being terrorists.' The second, from September 22, relates that the IDF is already thinking about how to cope with the possibility that the Palestinians will dig tunnels under the separation fence, or cross over it by means of ropes or bridges stretched between the roofs on either side of the concrete wall, which, in built-up areas, divides buildings and streets. "
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Background on the fence
Ha'aretz - Article: "Background/Fence divides Israel and U.S., Israeli and Israeli By Bradley Burston, Haaretz Correspondent Thursday, September 18, 2003
The West Bank security fence that was to have kept Palestinian militants from crossing into Israel has come to delineate - and exacerbate - new divides, distancing Israel from its closest ally Washington, and dividing Israelis from one another.
...
The concept of a fence roughly following Israel's pre-1967 border with the West Bank was initially hailed by Israeli leftists and a number of prominent former generals - notably ex-national security adviser and one-time deputy chief of staff Uzi Dayan - who viewed the separation project as a proactive initial phase of political mitosis into independent Israeli and Palestinian states coexisting in harmony.
But as the route planned by the Sharon government quickly took increasingly large bites eastward into West Bank territory that Arabs envisaged as part and parcel of their future state, Palestinian coolness and skepticism turned to outright anger.
PA officials led by Yasser Arafat said the fence had become nothing more than a justification for Israeli land grabs and reversals of the Oslo agreements, ensnaring Palestinians within islands of Israeli control, cutting many off from their livelihoods and cropland.
Ha'aretz - Article: "Background/Fence divides Israel and U.S., Israeli and Israeli By Bradley Burston, Haaretz Correspondent Thursday, September 18, 2003
The West Bank security fence that was to have kept Palestinian militants from crossing into Israel has come to delineate - and exacerbate - new divides, distancing Israel from its closest ally Washington, and dividing Israelis from one another.
...
The concept of a fence roughly following Israel's pre-1967 border with the West Bank was initially hailed by Israeli leftists and a number of prominent former generals - notably ex-national security adviser and one-time deputy chief of staff Uzi Dayan - who viewed the separation project as a proactive initial phase of political mitosis into independent Israeli and Palestinian states coexisting in harmony.
But as the route planned by the Sharon government quickly took increasingly large bites eastward into West Bank territory that Arabs envisaged as part and parcel of their future state, Palestinian coolness and skepticism turned to outright anger.
PA officials led by Yasser Arafat said the fence had become nothing more than a justification for Israeli land grabs and reversals of the Oslo agreements, ensnaring Palestinians within islands of Israeli control, cutting many off from their livelihoods and cropland.
An outcome too terrible to imagine
An outcome too terrible to imagine: "An outcome too terrible to imagine By Yigal Bronner
The morning after the horrific suicide bombing at Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked on the radio whether this was the right time to cut the defense budget. Netanyahu reiterated his promise that the funds earmarked for what is known as the separation fence will not be reduced and will even be pumped in faster to accelerate its construction."
...
... Before it becomes too late, we must take time out to look through the veil of lies about the fence.
The first lie is in the title. The so-called separation fence promises the worn-out and worried public that the Palestinians, and all the troubles that contact with them entails, will be tucked safely behind the fence. We are on one side, they are on the other, and that's that. The alignment of the fence will, in reality, annex much of the West Bank to Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will still be living west of the fence, on the Israeli side. Thousands of settlers will be living east of it. Call it what you will - separation it ain't.
The second lie is that this fence marks a border, and that the Palestinian State that Sharon speaks of will be established east of it. This is not one fence, but at least two sets of walls. And while one of them, the western one, will steal as much Palestinian land as possible along the Green Line, the other one, the eastern one, will be annexing remote settlements. Several other obstacles, including fences and ditches, will be created between the two walls. This system will turn the populated areas of the West Bank into uncontiguous pens.
...
One can hardly imagine the scope of humanitarian problems that these walls on the east side of the Jerusalem metropolitan area will create as they slash the region into an intricate system of unconnected compounds. But the promise of security that the fence carries with it turns the Israeli ear deaf to any humanitarian arguments.
And the third lie about the wall, again through the Jerusalem prism: East Jerusalem was the calmest Palestinian region during the current intifada. The wall will divide families and streets and leave us with many people who have nothing to lose. This is a giant barrel of explosives.
An outcome too terrible to imagine: "An outcome too terrible to imagine By Yigal Bronner
The morning after the horrific suicide bombing at Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked on the radio whether this was the right time to cut the defense budget. Netanyahu reiterated his promise that the funds earmarked for what is known as the separation fence will not be reduced and will even be pumped in faster to accelerate its construction."
...
... Before it becomes too late, we must take time out to look through the veil of lies about the fence.
The first lie is in the title. The so-called separation fence promises the worn-out and worried public that the Palestinians, and all the troubles that contact with them entails, will be tucked safely behind the fence. We are on one side, they are on the other, and that's that. The alignment of the fence will, in reality, annex much of the West Bank to Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will still be living west of the fence, on the Israeli side. Thousands of settlers will be living east of it. Call it what you will - separation it ain't.
The second lie is that this fence marks a border, and that the Palestinian State that Sharon speaks of will be established east of it. This is not one fence, but at least two sets of walls. And while one of them, the western one, will steal as much Palestinian land as possible along the Green Line, the other one, the eastern one, will be annexing remote settlements. Several other obstacles, including fences and ditches, will be created between the two walls. This system will turn the populated areas of the West Bank into uncontiguous pens.
...
One can hardly imagine the scope of humanitarian problems that these walls on the east side of the Jerusalem metropolitan area will create as they slash the region into an intricate system of unconnected compounds. But the promise of security that the fence carries with it turns the Israeli ear deaf to any humanitarian arguments.
And the third lie about the wall, again through the Jerusalem prism: East Jerusalem was the calmest Palestinian region during the current intifada. The wall will divide families and streets and leave us with many people who have nothing to lose. This is a giant barrel of explosives.
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
Redraw the fence's route to follow something resembling the 1967 border
FORWARD : Editorial AUGUST 1, 2003 | Where Is the Fence?: "
The simmering dispute over Israel's so-called West Bank separation fence includes more than enough hypocrisy to go around on all sides. ...
...
As originally proposed, the fence was supposed to run along the so-called "seam line," as the pre-1967 armistice lines are called in Israeli politico-legal jardon. ... settlers and their allies ... fear the barrier will indeed become a de facto border ... And so the fence's route has been pushed eastward bit by bit, snaking in and out of the West Bank to encompass Israeli settlements with enough clout to get themselves on the inside before the gate closes.
...
The resulting plan is a crazy quilt of zigs and zags that will end up following a route twice the length of the original plan proposed two years ago by Israel's National Security Council. The plan infuriates the Palestinians, ... makes it a good deal harder for Palestinians who believe in peace ... to convince their colleagues that a deal with Israel is possible.
...
If Israel is serious about the fence's purely defensive purposes, it should heed the administration and redraw the fence's route to follow something resembling the 1967 border. ...
FORWARD : Editorial AUGUST 1, 2003 | Where Is the Fence?: "
The simmering dispute over Israel's so-called West Bank separation fence includes more than enough hypocrisy to go around on all sides. ...
...
As originally proposed, the fence was supposed to run along the so-called "seam line," as the pre-1967 armistice lines are called in Israeli politico-legal jardon. ... settlers and their allies ... fear the barrier will indeed become a de facto border ... And so the fence's route has been pushed eastward bit by bit, snaking in and out of the West Bank to encompass Israeli settlements with enough clout to get themselves on the inside before the gate closes.
...
The resulting plan is a crazy quilt of zigs and zags that will end up following a route twice the length of the original plan proposed two years ago by Israel's National Security Council. The plan infuriates the Palestinians, ... makes it a good deal harder for Palestinians who believe in peace ... to convince their colleagues that a deal with Israel is possible.
...
If Israel is serious about the fence's purely defensive purposes, it should heed the administration and redraw the fence's route to follow something resembling the 1967 border. ...
Palestinians are being crowded into isolated "territorial cells" ... 40 percent of the [occupied] territory
Haaretz - Article | No master plan | By Amira Hass Wednesday, September 10, 2003
In one of the villages beside Qalqilyah and close to the Green Line, in which the threatening separation fence has already gobbled up chunks of land from most of the inhabitants and destroyed their water reservoirs, A. and his family are planning to move to Nablus. After all, what is the point in staying in a closed village, when all you have is a bit of land for growing mint in the yard? "
In many West Bank villages people are giving up cultivating a good share of their land at the edges of their property due to arassment by Israelis who have settled the area, both before and after September 2000.
Sometimes it is a fence and a security road built around various settlements long before September 2000. The fence included hundreds of fruit trees, the livelihoods of dozens of families. By definition that cultivated land, that fenced-in land, is lost. Now that has become the fate of the lands trapped between the Green Line and the separation fence. Since before September 2000 and to this day, West Bank viallagers have been served with court orders for the destruction of their homes or the uprooting of their orchards. They had encroached on state lands, said the civil administration.
...
... But the singular result is that the Palestinians have been harmed and they are being crowded into isolated "territorial cells" (another handy military term) that more or less coincide with Areas A and B as delineated in the Oslo Accords, and determined during the years of Ehud Barak's government - before the resumption of the blood feud. This means 40 percent of the territory (scattered about). A coincidence?
Haaretz - Article | No master plan | By Amira Hass Wednesday, September 10, 2003
In one of the villages beside Qalqilyah and close to the Green Line, in which the threatening separation fence has already gobbled up chunks of land from most of the inhabitants and destroyed their water reservoirs, A. and his family are planning to move to Nablus. After all, what is the point in staying in a closed village, when all you have is a bit of land for growing mint in the yard? "
In many West Bank villages people are giving up cultivating a good share of their land at the edges of their property due to arassment by Israelis who have settled the area, both before and after September 2000.
Sometimes it is a fence and a security road built around various settlements long before September 2000. The fence included hundreds of fruit trees, the livelihoods of dozens of families. By definition that cultivated land, that fenced-in land, is lost. Now that has become the fate of the lands trapped between the Green Line and the separation fence. Since before September 2000 and to this day, West Bank viallagers have been served with court orders for the destruction of their homes or the uprooting of their orchards. They had encroached on state lands, said the civil administration.
...
... But the singular result is that the Palestinians have been harmed and they are being crowded into isolated "territorial cells" (another handy military term) that more or less coincide with Areas A and B as delineated in the Oslo Accords, and determined during the years of Ehud Barak's government - before the resumption of the blood feud. This means 40 percent of the territory (scattered about). A coincidence?
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
Bush does about face on security fence -- to the Palestinians' fury
Economist.com | Israelis and Palestinians | Taking offence over a fence | Jul 31st 2003
In their Washington talks, President George Bush failed to deter Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, from continuing to build a security fence in the West Bank --to the Palestinians' fury
THE talks that President George Bush held on Tuesday July 29th with the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and four days earlier with the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, made meagre progress on such urgent issues as the release of Israeli-held prisoners and the dismantling of Palestinian militant groups. All the talks apparently achieved was to highlight yet another threat to the Middle East peace process: the security fence that Israel is building, carving chunks out of the West Bank. Palestinians had been encouraged when, after meeting Mr Abbas, Mr Bush publicly criticised the fence, calling it a 'problem' and saying it was an obstacle to building confidence between the two sides. But then, to their anger, Mr Sharon came out of his meeting with Mr Bush insisting he would press on with building the fence. All Mr Bush managed to extract from him was a promise to try to minimise its impact on Palestinians. "
Economist.com | Israelis and Palestinians | Taking offence over a fence | Jul 31st 2003
In their Washington talks, President George Bush failed to deter Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, from continuing to build a security fence in the West Bank --to the Palestinians' fury
THE talks that President George Bush held on Tuesday July 29th with the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and four days earlier with the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, made meagre progress on such urgent issues as the release of Israeli-held prisoners and the dismantling of Palestinian militant groups. All the talks apparently achieved was to highlight yet another threat to the Middle East peace process: the security fence that Israel is building, carving chunks out of the West Bank. Palestinians had been encouraged when, after meeting Mr Abbas, Mr Bush publicly criticised the fence, calling it a 'problem' and saying it was an obstacle to building confidence between the two sides. But then, to their anger, Mr Sharon came out of his meeting with Mr Bush insisting he would press on with building the fence. All Mr Bush managed to extract from him was a promise to try to minimise its impact on Palestinians. "
Monday, September 08, 2003
Model community split by a fence ... cut off from water
Telegraph | News | Model community split by a fence (Filed: 02/August/2003)
Israel is defying US warnings and pushing ahead with its giant fence around the Palestinians, reports Alan Philps in Jayous, West Bank
The farmers of Jayous used to be the most fortunate in the arid lands of the West Bank, blessed with fertile fields and ample water. The village was chosen by aid agencies in the 1980s as a model for development, with hundreds of thousands of pounds invested in agriculture.
More than 2,200 acres of land belonging to Jayous are now on the wrong side of the fence, including six wells. Villagers once blessed with gushing supplies now have a couple of hours' water every three days in their taps.
...
The well and its pump have been destroyed by fire since the Israeli construction crews arrived, a sure way to dry out the land.
...
Four miles west of Jayous is the Israeli town of Kokhav Yair, where some of the army's top brass live. The original plans showed the fence running along the edge of the town, but residents did not want it at the bottom of their gardens, and it has been moved east to the edge of the Palestinian houses.
Jonathon Rimon, the mayor, said: "We objected to it being 10 metres from houses. It was not practical. It would not be a security fence if it were 10 metres from houses." There had to be a "strategic distance" between the fence and what was being protected.
Israelis like to say a strong fence, even if built on their neighbours' land, will make for good relations with the Palestinians.
The people of Jayous, about 25 miles north-east of Tel Aviv, say it will be a recruiting sergeant for extremists.
Telegraph | News | Model community split by a fence (Filed: 02/August/2003)
Israel is defying US warnings and pushing ahead with its giant fence around the Palestinians, reports Alan Philps in Jayous, West Bank
The farmers of Jayous used to be the most fortunate in the arid lands of the West Bank, blessed with fertile fields and ample water. The village was chosen by aid agencies in the 1980s as a model for development, with hundreds of thousands of pounds invested in agriculture.
More than 2,200 acres of land belonging to Jayous are now on the wrong side of the fence, including six wells. Villagers once blessed with gushing supplies now have a couple of hours' water every three days in their taps.
...
The well and its pump have been destroyed by fire since the Israeli construction crews arrived, a sure way to dry out the land.
...
Four miles west of Jayous is the Israeli town of Kokhav Yair, where some of the army's top brass live. The original plans showed the fence running along the edge of the town, but residents did not want it at the bottom of their gardens, and it has been moved east to the edge of the Palestinian houses.
Jonathon Rimon, the mayor, said: "We objected to it being 10 metres from houses. It was not practical. It would not be a security fence if it were 10 metres from houses." There had to be a "strategic distance" between the fence and what was being protected.
Israelis like to say a strong fence, even if built on their neighbours' land, will make for good relations with the Palestinians.
The people of Jayous, about 25 miles north-east of Tel Aviv, say it will be a recruiting sergeant for extremists.
Sofer: On Israel's separation fence -- This is exactly my map
ei: On Israel's separation fence (part 1), Meron Rappaport, Yedioth Ahronoth, 31 May 2003
A watchtower on Israel's 'Separation fence', in reality a heavily fortified wall with electronic intrusion detection. The wall has been dubbed by critics as 'Israel's Berlin Wall' and 'Israel's Apartheid Wall' (EI/AEF).
23 May 2003 -- On February 6, 2001, Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister. 'That same night I got a call from Sharon's people asking me to meet him as son as possible,' says Prof. Arnon Sofer, 'and they asked me to bring the maps.'
The maps that Sharon's people asked for were the maps that Prof. Sofer, a geographer at Haifa University and the prophet of 'the Arab demographic danger,' presented in a lecture at the Herzliya Conference a few months earlier. Borders should be set immediately for the State of Israel, Sofer said at the time, otherwise the Arabs will inundate us and there will be no Jewish entity here anymore. The West Bank, he explained, must be split into three parts, three cantons, basically three sausages. One sausage from Jenin to Ramallah, a second sausage from Bethlehem to Hebron and a third tiny sausage around the city of Jericho. An electric fence must be put up around these three Palestinian sausages, which extend on less than half the West Bank, and finish the business.
Prof. Sofer and Sharon, then leader of the opposition, conversed at the Herzliya conference. They have not been in constant touch since then, but when Sofer sees the map of the separation fence going up, he smiles to himself. "This is exactly my map," he says, "it's as if an exact copy is being put up.""
ei: On Israel's separation fence (part 1), Meron Rappaport, Yedioth Ahronoth, 31 May 2003
A watchtower on Israel's 'Separation fence', in reality a heavily fortified wall with electronic intrusion detection. The wall has been dubbed by critics as 'Israel's Berlin Wall' and 'Israel's Apartheid Wall' (EI/AEF).
23 May 2003 -- On February 6, 2001, Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister. 'That same night I got a call from Sharon's people asking me to meet him as son as possible,' says Prof. Arnon Sofer, 'and they asked me to bring the maps.'
The maps that Sharon's people asked for were the maps that Prof. Sofer, a geographer at Haifa University and the prophet of 'the Arab demographic danger,' presented in a lecture at the Herzliya Conference a few months earlier. Borders should be set immediately for the State of Israel, Sofer said at the time, otherwise the Arabs will inundate us and there will be no Jewish entity here anymore. The West Bank, he explained, must be split into three parts, three cantons, basically three sausages. One sausage from Jenin to Ramallah, a second sausage from Bethlehem to Hebron and a third tiny sausage around the city of Jericho. An electric fence must be put up around these three Palestinian sausages, which extend on less than half the West Bank, and finish the business.
Prof. Sofer and Sharon, then leader of the opposition, conversed at the Herzliya conference. They have not been in constant touch since then, but when Sofer sees the map of the separation fence going up, he smiles to himself. "This is exactly my map," he says, "it's as if an exact copy is being put up.""
Sunday, September 07, 2003
Israeli wall to encircle Palestine
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Israeli wall to encircle Palestine | Sharon accused of turning territories into huge prison | Chris McGreal in Jerusalem | Tuesday March 18, 2003
Ariel Sharon has told his cabinet that he plans to extend the 'security fence' Israel is building along the length of the West Bank so that it entirely encircles any Palestinian state.
The revelation, which follows the Israeli government's decision to oppose full independence for Palestine in favour of a state with 'certain attributes of sovereignty', immediately drew fire from the Palestinians who accused the Israeli prime minister of trying to turn the occupied territories into a huge prison.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army killed 10 Palestinians, including a four-year-old girl, in a raid on a Gaza refugee camp yesterday. "
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Israeli wall to encircle Palestine | Sharon accused of turning territories into huge prison | Chris McGreal in Jerusalem | Tuesday March 18, 2003
Ariel Sharon has told his cabinet that he plans to extend the 'security fence' Israel is building along the length of the West Bank so that it entirely encircles any Palestinian state.
The revelation, which follows the Israeli government's decision to oppose full independence for Palestine in favour of a state with 'certain attributes of sovereignty', immediately drew fire from the Palestinians who accused the Israeli prime minister of trying to turn the occupied territories into a huge prison.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army killed 10 Palestinians, including a four-year-old girl, in a raid on a Gaza refugee camp yesterday. "
Thursday, September 04, 2003
This wall is monstrous. It is medieval.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Time to get tough | Jenny Tonge | Monday June 23, 2003
The wall and security fence was perhaps our greatest shock. It is way beyond the 1967 green line from the north-west to the south-west of the West Bank.
A security fence (with a deep ditch plus razor wire and look-out posts) is also being constructed, from the north-east to the south-east of the Jordan Valley. It is ingeniously constructed to exclude the best aquifers from the Palestinian lands and blatantly cuts them off from the whole Jordan Valley and its fertile lands and water, and, in the case of Qalqila, cuts Palestinians off from their natural gas fields outside the town.
We stood beneath it at Qalqila, where the whole town is surrounded by the wall apart from a heavily-guarded Israeli "passage" in and out from the other Palestinian lands. It is eight metres tall with armed concrete watchtowers and a "buffer" zone of 30-100 metres wide filled with rubble and razor wire. It will be 360 km long and will isolate east Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.
I stood beneath the Berlin Wall when visiting East Germany many years ago and it bears no comparison. This wall is monstrous. It is medieval.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Time to get tough | Jenny Tonge | Monday June 23, 2003
The wall and security fence was perhaps our greatest shock. It is way beyond the 1967 green line from the north-west to the south-west of the West Bank.
A security fence (with a deep ditch plus razor wire and look-out posts) is also being constructed, from the north-east to the south-east of the Jordan Valley. It is ingeniously constructed to exclude the best aquifers from the Palestinian lands and blatantly cuts them off from the whole Jordan Valley and its fertile lands and water, and, in the case of Qalqila, cuts Palestinians off from their natural gas fields outside the town.
We stood beneath it at Qalqila, where the whole town is surrounded by the wall apart from a heavily-guarded Israeli "passage" in and out from the other Palestinian lands. It is eight metres tall with armed concrete watchtowers and a "buffer" zone of 30-100 metres wide filled with rubble and razor wire. It will be 360 km long and will isolate east Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.
I stood beneath the Berlin Wall when visiting East Germany many years ago and it bears no comparison. This wall is monstrous. It is medieval.
Wednesday, September 03, 2003
UK censures Sharon over fence around West Bank
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | UK censures Sharon over fence around West Bank By Kamal Ahmed, London and Conal Urquhart, Jerusalem, Sunday April 27, 2003
The British Government has sharply criticised Israel over the building of a 'separation fence' around the entire Palestinian territory of the West Bank, as pressure builds on Ariel Sharon to sign up to the so-called 'road map' to peace and a two-state solution to the Middle East crisis. "
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | UK censures Sharon over fence around West Bank By Kamal Ahmed, London and Conal Urquhart, Jerusalem, Sunday April 27, 2003
The British Government has sharply criticised Israel over the building of a 'separation fence' around the entire Palestinian territory of the West Bank, as pressure builds on Ariel Sharon to sign up to the so-called 'road map' to peace and a two-state solution to the Middle East crisis. "
Telegraph | News | Palestinian olive trees sold to rich Israelis
Telegraph | News | Palestinian olive trees sold to rich Israelis: "About 11,000 Palestinian farmers will lose all or some of their land holdings to the fence. Sharif Omar, from the village of Jayous, near the Israeli town of Kochav Yair, said: 'I have lost almost everything. I have lost 2,700 fruit and olive trees. And 44 of 50 acres I own have been confiscated for the fence.'"
Telegraph | News | Palestinian olive trees sold to rich Israelis: "About 11,000 Palestinian farmers will lose all or some of their land holdings to the fence. Sharif Omar, from the village of Jayous, near the Israeli town of Kochav Yair, said: 'I have lost almost everything. I have lost 2,700 fruit and olive trees. And 44 of 50 acres I own have been confiscated for the fence.'"
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Chris McGreal reports on the Israeli security fence: "Caged
When finished it will be 370 miles long and 10ft high, encircling almost the entire West Bank population. Israel claims the security fence is needed to protect its citizens from suicide bombers. But for the many thousands of Palestinians cut off from their work, fields and loved ones, it is part of an illegal land grab intended to drive them from their homes. Chris McGreal takes a drive along the 76-mile section already completed
Wednesday September 3, 2003
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There are two ways to travel the 123 kilometres (76 miles) of the newly completed first section of what the Israelis used to call the "separation obstacle" - until they realised that smacked too much of apartheid and so renamed it the "security fence". You can drive its length on the Israeli side along a new motorway, straining to spot the fence on distant hilltops deep inside the West Bank. Or you can pursue a more tortuous route in the Palestinian territories along rutted tracks, tracing the barrier as it cages villages, slices through olive groves and brings once busy roads to a jarring halt in front of the ominous warning signs."
