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Vermonters
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Separation Barrier Divides People, Villages and Cities
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The
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| Construction
of the Wall has destroyed large areas of Palestinian land. |
Jerusalem and Bethlehem divided by separation barrier
ReliefWeb/Christian Aid 3/17/2005
The Israeli government has revealed its plans for the route of the separation barrier it is building around Jerusalem. It will cut East Jerusalem and the largest Israeli settlement in the West Bank off from the rest of the West Bank, and will divide Bethlehem.Christian Aid's Palestinian and Israeli partners say the route will jeopardise peace talks and argue that the decision amounts to a unilateral attempt to prejudge the borders of a final solution to the conflict and whereas.The Israeli government says the barrier is for security reasons. Israel has an absolute right to defend its citizens from attack.But the route of the barrier -- snaking deep into the West Bank will mean lands claimed by Palestinians for their future state will lie on the Israeli side of the barrier.The issue of East Jerusalem is especially contentious -- Palestinians hope it will be the capital of their future state.The plan, which was authorised by Ariel Sharon and the Israeli Supreme Court, will see Ma'ale Adumim, the largest West Bank Israeli settlement encompassed by the barrier. more..
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| Demonstrators
from Zawiya stand in the bucket of an Occupation digger, stopping it from destroying
village lands. (PENGON/Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign) |
The Writing on the Wall: Maha Abu Dayyeh
By Toine van Teeffelen, Electronic Intifada 1/24/2005
MAHA ABU DAYYEH: "AS LONG AS THERE IS A SOCIETY THAT RESISTS THERE IS HOPE." -- My office is close to my house—I just walk across the street. Now, the Wall ends just before the intersection of where I cross. When its construction is completed, I will have to drive all the way through Qalandia checkpoint, turn right around, and cross the check point again and go to Dahiet Al-Barid, before I can get to my office. I live on the left the hand side of the street going from Jerusalem to Ramallah which is the Jerusalem side. However, all the services for my daily existence will be on the side that will be blocked off. Think about getting vegetables or food, or getting maintenance and household support. Half of all Jerusalemite Palestinians are going to suffer from this because electricians or maintenance people all live in areas that are blocked off. Because they will be harder to get, they will be more expensive. Life is going to become much more expensive, and not only monetarily. We also will pay heavy social and emotional costs. We will become disconnected—literally and figuratively—from family and friends. Going to them in Ramallah or Beit Jala, places actually not very far from here, will be very difficult. more..
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| The separation wall near Qalqiliya |
Security wall obliterates Palestinian rights
By Sr. Miriam Ward, Vermont Catholic Tribune 8/27/2004
"For 900 years we have lived here under Turkish, British, Jordanian and Israeli governments, and no one has ever stopped people coming to pray. It is scandalous." The words of Father Claudio Ghilardi of the Santa Marta Monastery on the southern slope of the Mount of Olives, the juncture of Jerusalem, Abu Dis and Al-Izariyah (Bethany) where I visited in July. The church, named for St. Martha of Bethany, is now empty. Two Thousand Palestinian Catholics have lost their place of worship and spiritual center.Why?Israel is building a 30-foot concrete Wall through the monastery grounds; the church is now on the Jerusalem side. Many of the faithful live on the other side in Bethany and Abu Dis which means they can not get to the church because most do not have and can not get permits to enter Jerusalem. Father Claudio says, "This is not a barrier. It is a border. Why don't they speak the truth?" Countering Sharon's argument that the Wall is to keep Palestinian suicide bombers from Israel, Father Claudio adds, "The Wall is not separating Palestinians from Jews; rather, Palestinians from Palestinians." Nearby are three convents which will also be cut off from the people they serve.I visited the rest home run by the Sisters of Notre Dame now on the Jerusalem side of the Wall at Abu Dis. The lovely courtyard banked with flowers and flaming bougainvillea bushes seems more like a jail than a rest area for residents in wheelchairs. The Wall rises around them, cutting their view of the sky! more..
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| Divided community - Part of Abu Dis already has a separation wall, put there by Israel to stop Palestinian West Bankers who do not have Jerusalem identity papers entering the city. However, the people of Abu Dis have been told that the work going on to the south of this will result in an eight-metre high wall. - BBC photo |
Sliced in two by Israel's barrier, Abu Dis fears a slow death
By Sophie Claudet, Palestine Monitor 1/19/2004
ABU DIS, West Bank, Jan 19-- Residents of Abu Dis, once tipped to be the capital of a future Palestinian state, are struggling to cope with the imposing wall carving through their village, separating families and friends and making nearby Jerusalem an unattainable dream."My house is 30 meters (yards) away but it's on the other side of the wall. I have to drive 25 kilometers (15 miles) to go back and forth," said Yakin al-Rajabi, who owns a carpentry workshop in the village on the edge of occupied east Jerusalem.His shop stands directly opposite the vast West Bank separation barrier being constructed by Israel, which in many places cuts deep into Palestinian territory prompting accusations it is not security-motivated but a unilateral bid to grab land and pre-empt the borders of a future Palestinian state."Israel wants to destroy the Palestinian economy. My clients mostly came from east Jerusalem and will no longer take the trouble," he sighed. In its current form, the barrier -- now referred to by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office as the "the anti-terror fence" -- is to stretch 730 kilometres (450 miles) although there are calls for the route to be changed.Israel says the barrier will stop infiltrations by militants planning to attack, although critics warn it could serve to radicalize Palestinians already struggling to live under military blockades.The International Court of Justice in The Hague is to hold a hearing next month to issue an opinion on the legality of the barrier following a request by the UN General Assembly.One of Rajabi's workers said the barrier is seeking to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. more..
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| Israel's
Wall Divides People, Villages and Cities: More from our Archives.. |
Jerusalem and Bethlehem divided by separation barrier
ReliefWeb/Christian Aid 3/17/2005
The Israeli government has revealed its plans for the route of the separation barrier it is building around Jerusalem. It will cut East Jerusalem and the largest Israeli settlement in the West Bank off from the rest of the West Bank, and will divide Bethlehem.Christian...
Palestinian Monitoring Group Daily Situation Report (12 - 13 March 2005)
Palestine Media Center 3/14/2005
PDF) Events: All Districts: Beginning on 11 November 2004, following the official announcement of the death of President Yasser Arafat, the Israeli army continues to impose a total closure on the West Bank, preventing civilians and workers from crossing the Green Line....Closure: (i) The...
A Look at West Bank Town of Tulkarem
Yahoo! News 3/7/2005
Here's a look at the West Bank town of Tulkarem, the first of five Palestinian towns Israel is expected to hand over to Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) security control. LOCATION: Northern West Bank along the 1949 cease-fire line that divides Israel from the West...
The Writing on the Wall: Maha Abu Dayyeh
By Toine van Teeffelen, Electronic Intifada 1/24/2005
MAHA ABU DAYYEH: "AS LONG AS THERE IS A SOCIETY THAT RESISTS THERE IS HOPE." -- My office is close to my house—I just walk across the street. Now, the Wall ends just before the intersection of where I cross. When its construction is completed...
Security wall obliterates Palestinian rights
By Sr. Miriam Ward, Vermont Catholic Tribune 8/27/2004
For 900 years we have lived here under Turkish, British, Jordanian and Israeli governments, and no one has ever stopped people coming to pray. It is scandalous." The words of Father Claudio Ghilardi of the Santa Marta Monastery on the southern slope of the Mount...
The fence, the ugly darling
By Gideon Samet, Ha'aretz 8/27/2004
In the spirit of the Olympics, the wall that slices through Abu Dis in the Jerusalem area looked to one observer like a challenge for Alex Averbukh. If it has to be there, why so high? It is impossible to leap the brutal eight meters...
The Palestinians at Crossroads
By Dr. Asali, Miftah 8/5/2004
The following is the text of a speech delivered by Dr. Asali on August 3, 2004 at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC. -- Simply stated, crossing the bridge from Jordan to the West Bank is a hassle. However, it is also an...
Plan to keep some Jerusalem Neighborhood behind the wall
International Middle East Media Center 8/2/2004
Israeli security devices including the General Security Service (The Shabak) recommended keeping some neighborhoods of Jerusalem on the other side of the wall. The original plan, approved by the Israeli government, is to build the wall around Jerusalem and regard it as the municipal borders...
Palestinians and Internationals Protest the Apartheid Wall’s Division of Barta
International Solidarity Movement 7/17/2004
Barta, Jenin] A crowd of over 100 Palestinian and international protesters gathered today outside the checkpoint of Um al Rihan which controls traffic in and out of Barta, a village west of Jenin on the Green Line. The situation in Barta is dire. It’s divided...
Don't get used to it
Editorial, Workers Word 7/1/2004
A recent study by Glasgow University on what the British public knows about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict turned up some damning answers. The majority thought that the Palestinians were occupying Israeli land instead of the reality, which is the other way around. Some 80 percent of...
In Salfit and Jerusalem: The Occupation Begins Building Two Ghettoes in One Day
Palestine Solidarity Campaign 6/7/2004
PENGON/Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign | London - England - Ar Ram: A Ghetto for Sixty Thousand People-- The Occupation forces last night began work on the Apartheid Wall in Zawiya village west of Salfit. Occupation Forces surveyed the village last Thursday and told the people there that they...
In Salfeet; Israel Moves Ahead In Building the Apartheid Wall
International Press Center 6/9/2004
SALFEET, June8,2004(IPC+Agencies)--The Israeli Occupation forces continued for the second day work on the Apartheid Wall in Zawiya village west of Salfit. Occupation Forces surveyed the village last Thursday and told the people there that they were going to start construction on Sunday...
Sliced in two by Israel's barrier, Abu Dis fears a slow death
By Sophie Claudet, Palestine Monitor 1/19/2004
ABU DIS, West Bank, Jan 19-- Residents of Abu Dis, once tipped to be the capital of a future Palestinian state, are struggling to cope with the imposing wall carving through their village, separating families and friends and making nearby Jerusalem an unattainable dream."My...
Residents of As Sawahira ash Sharqiya village have many questions about their future
By Palestine Monitor, Jerusalemites 1/22/2004
Fifty three year old Mohammad Sarkhe looked over towards his elderly father's house, just eighty meters away and asked himself if he would still be able to visit after Israel has completed its "separation" wall.Indeed he says this wall is one of separation - separating too...
Where day to day living has had its heart cut out
The Guardian 1/20/2004
Fatina Zen stayed until the end, peering down her street through the lashing rain as towering concrete slabs were slotted into place one by one across the middle of the road. She wondered if her son might suddenly appear on the other side to wave...
Hundreds protest against separation fence at al-Garbiyeh
Ha'aretz 1/2/2004
Hundreds of protestors rallied Friday in the Israeli Arab town of Baka al-Garbiyeh against the contruction of the separation fence to the east of the town. Police at the scene of the demonstration say that there have been no untoward incidents recorded so far. The...
Israel 's “Security” Wall: Bad Fences Make Bad Neighbors
By PLO Negotiations Affairs Department, Arabic Media Internet Network 12/18/2003
The] formula for the parameters of unilateral solution are: To maximize the number of Jews; minimize the number of Palestinians; not to withdraw to the 1967 border and not to divide Jerusalem .”– Ehud Olmert, Israel's Deputy Prime MinisterFrequently Asked Questions: 1. What's wrong with Israel...
Bethlehem to be encircled in steel as 'security fence' snakes its way around holy city
The Independent 12/20/2003
We're not celebrating Christmas this year," says Yaqub Kasis, a member of Bethlehem's dwindling community of Palestinian Christians. It should be a time of celebration for the city where Christ was born. Unlike last year, this Christmas there are no Israeli soldiers in Bethlehem's streets...
Permission to work?
By Suraya Dadoo, Electronic Intifada 12/16/2003
It is 12:30pm at the Nablus area District Civilian Affairs Office (DCO). It is over 40 degrees outside, where a long queue of Palestinians had been waiting in the oppressive heat (some for over three hours) with dust and dirt and no place to...
East Jerusalem suburbs expect the worst as separation barrier erected
ReliefWeb 12/10/2003
AL-AZARIYA, West Bank, Dec 10 (AFP) - Tens of thousands of West Bank Palestinians in eastern Jerusalem suburbs are awaiting disaster, as Israel continues to build a separation barrier that will cut them off from the Holy City and slice through their villages. "The wall will...
Barbed-wire Screen, Smoke Screen
By B. Michael, Translated by, Arabic Media Internet Network/Yediot Ahronot 10/31/2003
A lot of “separating” can be achieved with 3,000 km (2,000 miles) of barbed-wire: separating livestock from its owners, olives from their harvesters, vines from their pickers, a doctor from his patients, a worker from his place of work, a teacher from his students. Especially...
Living in the Shadow of the Wall (Qalqiliya District)
Electronic Intifada 11/16/2003
Personal testimonies by Palestinians about the impact of the wall in their lives: The wall separates Azzoun (population 7,000) from its agricultural land, which now lies west of the wall. No gate in the wall allows residents access to their lands. As a result they...
The road to Bantustan
By Akiva Eldar, Ha'aretz 11/17/2003
Half a century ago, when Israel was much smaller and poorer, attacks on Jews abroad would put immigrant absorption centers around the country on high alert. In the 21st century, with the Jewish state spread far and wide and equipped with the finest weaponry, the...
Divide and destroy
By Alex Klaushofer, The Guardian 11/13/2003
Israel's separation wall is creating a new kind of humanitarian crisis for the Palestinians who live in its shadow. Christian Aid's Alex Klaushofer witnesses the devastation of communities -- Over the past few months, the barrier that Israel is building to cut itself off from the...
Why is the World Silent in the Face of Israeli Apartheid?
By Neve Gordon, Dissident Voice 11/6/2003
Jerusalem: As the government of the Jewish state forces the Palestinians in ghettos, history must be turning in its grave. Qalqiliya, a city of 45,000, has been surrounded by a concrete wall and only those who are granted permits by the Civil Administration can enter...
Waiting wall: Barrier divides land and lives
Daily Star 10/16/2003
Palestinian residents of Al-Ezariya and Abu Dis spend many of their waking hours at crossing points -- AL-EZARIYA, Palestine: The elderly couple struggled with their heavy bags. One by one, they hoisted them from a van over to the concrete blocks and up onto an adjacent...
Fenced in, Locked out: In the Shadow of Fortress Israel
By Justin Huggler, Palestine Chronicle/The Independent 10/3/2003
The wall in Abu Dis runs down the middle of a street. You used to be able to stroll from the money changers on one side to the tea shop on the other in less than a minute. Now the round trip takes half an...
East Jerusalem's Arabs Find Fence will Literally cut their lives in Half
Palestine Monitor/Haaretz 9/15/2003
The deafening roar of bulldozers working on the Jerusalem separation fence overshadows, drowns out, everything that happens in Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, including the words of Sheikh Qassem A-Surhi, who lives in the Abu Mrera neighborhood on the edge of the township. The sheikh...
Small Town on West Bank Stands as an Epitaph to Dashed Dreams
New York Times 9/14/2003
ABU DIS, West Bank, Sept. 13 — There was a moment, a brief one, when this rutted, dust-choked hamlet was glimpsed as a beacon for a new Middle East. Abu Dis broke into the news again this week, a week of Palestinian suicide bombings and political...
No master plan
By Amira Hass, Ha'aretz 9/10/2003
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...
Israel's "Security Wall" to spilt Al-Quds University in two
Miftah 9/3/2003
In its relentless campaign to divide Jerusalem from the West Bank, Israel has seized Al-Quds University's main campus grounds in Abu Dis to continue construction of the "security wall" in an increasingly blatant effort to impose an apartheid system on the Palestinian people. The Wall...
There's a wall in the way
By Gideon Levy, Ha'aretz Friday Magazine 9/5/2003
A little girl in her school uniform, her hair carefully combed, was walking to her first day of school on Monday. Walking to school? Not precisely. There's a wall in the way. Trying to squeeze between the big cement blocks of this wall besieging her...
In Pictures: Building a barrier through Abu Dis
BBC 9/3/2003
Israel is building a 225km fence in the West Bank. It says the structure is for security, but opponents fear it is an attempt to define borders. Terry Boulata, a Palestinian mother and schoolteacher living in Abu Dis, east Jerusalem, showed BBC News Online's Martin...
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