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Vermonters
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Environmental
Impact of Israel's Wall
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The
Wall..
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| August
21, 2003 the entire commercial area of Nazlat 'Isa was razed to the ground as
some 15 bulldozers, accompanied by large numbers of military and border police,
destroyed over 100 shops and 5 homes. - PENGON photo |
Israel's Apartheid Wall: Environmental Disaster in Palestine
By John Reese, Miftah 7/29/2003
In 1961, the world was transfixed as the Soviet Union enclosed West Berlin, Germany, in the 96-mile, 12-foot-high Berlin Wall. The social implications of the wall had a profound impact on world politics for nearly 30 years. In 2003, the world remains largely ignorant of the fact that Israel is building a 200-mile, 25-foot-high “Apartheid Wall” around the West Bank of Palestine. Palestinians have named it after the reviled South African term meaning “apartness.” In the northern West Bank, the first phase of the Apartheid Wall is to be approximately 70 miles long and is to include electric fences, a “dead zone,” trenches, cameras, sensors and security patrols, all at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. The wall will not mark the 1967 border, also known as the “Green Line.” The first phase will place 45,000 West Bank acres on the Israeli side, approximately three percent of Palestinian’s land mass. The footprint of the wall itself will be enormous, with as much as 8,750 acres completely lost. Construction of the wall will mean the removal of tens of thousands of trees and will effect the hydrology of the watersheds. This will cause changes in water quantity and quality, stream channel morphology and groundwater levels. Surface water flow will be altered, and there will be an increase in erosion and sedimentation. The impacts on the region’s water supplies around the wall are also of serious concern. The climate of Palestine is semi-arid, and water sources are precious. In villages around Qalqilya and Tulkarm, more than 30 wells will be lost in the first phase of the wall. These wells, located in the western groundwater basin, were drilled prior to the 1967 occupation of Palestine by Israel. As a result, Palestinians will lose nearly 18 percent of their share of the basin’s water. more..
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| One of the 117 olive trees uprooted by Israel on 9 December 2004 in Jayyous. A truck driver driver said he would bring the trees to the Tel Aviv area, to be sold. (Photo: Christoph Gocke) |
"As Jayous Struggles to Live, Jawal Wants to Die"
BostontoPalestine 7/17/2003
Jayous is a northern West Bank agricultural village slowly being choked to death by Israel's "Apartheid Wall or "security fence". The fence, as it is best described in this area, cuts well into the West Bank, wraps in around Jewish settlements and cuts off land from Palestinian farmers. Palestinians are literally awakening to find their land, homes, and even whole villages suddenly on the "Israel" side of an illegal, defacto border. The fence's security guards say that land on the west side of the fence, with its many Palestinian water wells, greenhouses, irrigated citrus trees and gardens, is now "Israel".The Boston ISM delegation has spent the last two weeks accompanying Jayous villagers through the one access gate to their land. The Israeli government promised unencumbered passage, but after several beatings from the machine gun toting private security guards at the gate, many farmers are too terrified to approach it. As a result, the village with its 4000 inhabitants is dying a slow death. Should the gate be closed for any length of time, that death will come more quickly with the resulting loss of 75% of the village's farmland.Today the gate was open. Jayous, farmland, and beyond it, Israel proper, lay spread before the farmers passing through the fences construction area. Needless to say, any of them could have walked right into Israel and carried out an attack, but these are not that sort of people. more..
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| Workmen
assemble a section of the Israeli separation barrier, which will consist of trenches,
walls, barbed wire, electronic fences, and patrol roads. When completed, the barrier
system will snake throughout the West Bank - REINHARD KRAUSE/REUTERS |
Tear down the Wall
By Miriam Ward, RSM, Brattleboro Reformer 8/8/2003
"Something there is that doesn't love a wall, that wants it down." So wrote Robert Frost. Not the most famous line of the poem, but Frost says it twice. Whether called a wall or a fence, the 200-mile, 25-foot-high-barrier, now 90 miles complete, is, according to President Bush, a "problem" and "obstacle to peace." Indeed an "obstacle to peace," the "problem" is nothing short of creating an apartheid state at best, or ethnic cleansing at worst, a war on the culture and way of life of an indigenous population, and an ecological disaster to boot.In June, I visited the wall in the Northern West Bank, that Sharon told Bush in his Washington visit, "will continue to be built."As one approaches the area, bulldozers are laying out what looks like a eight-lane highway through some of the richest farmland and olive groves in the West Bank. The Israeli Defense Ministry has acknowledged uprooting 63,000 olive trees. The wall is not on the 1967 border, the Green Line, but cuts deeply into Palestinian territory. The village of Qaffin is completely encircled.The mayor of Qalqilya, a city of 45,000, told our delegation that the wall prevents people from tending their olive trees or vegetable farms, and the wall is a barrier to transporting their produce to market in Nablus and other cities. Demolished homes, empty greenhouses, unattended gardens, uprooted olive trees attest to this fact.Not surprising, under Qalqilya lies the largest aquifer in the West Bank. Environmentalists warn of the negative impact the destruction of 8,000 acres of farmland and thousands of trees will have on the hydrology of the aquifers as well on the birds, animals and plants. more..
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| Israel has siezed more than half of the West Bank since 1967. AlJazeera |
Concern for the small animals
By Meron Benvenisti, Ha'aretz 9/10/2004
Two main demands have been raised by environment groups in connection with the environmental damage caused by the separation fence: "environmental compensation" within the Green Line and "setting up crossing points for small animals." One stands incredulous before such a blatant expression of disregard for the human and physical landscape. Terrible environmental damage is being inflicted on large areas in the heart of the country. Seventeen million cubic meters of soil, with tens of thousands of olive trees, thousands of dunams of orchards and groves, tens of thousands of dunams of natural growth, hothouses, archaeological sites and wells - as well as the fabric of life of hundreds of thousands of people - are being crushed by giant bulldozers. Yet the environmental organizations have nothing to say about the damage caused by the fence. On the contrary, they exploit the tragedies of others to promote their own interests: The destruction of the Palestinian environment presents the opportunity to demand "environmental compensation" within Israel. Moreover, the environmentalists are fighting for safe passage for small wildlife, while ignoring the fact that freedom of movement is being denied to hundreds of thousands of people - including small children - in an arbitrary manner. What selective sensitivity! more..
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| Environmental
Impact of Israel's Wall: More from our Archives.. |
Israel Seizes Palestinian Groundwater
WAFA 2/15/2005
Tulkarem, February 15, 2005, (WAFA)- Deputy Chairman of Palestinian Water Authority (PWA), Fadel Kawash, said that Israel controlled 900 million cubic meters of the Jordanian basin and it is now seizing groundwater of the western Palestinian basin. In a meeting held Monday, in Tulkarem city...
Israel’s war on the milieu
By John Collins, Electronic Intifada 12/21/2004
When the Nobel Committee announced its decision to award its 2004 Peace Prize to an environmental activist best known for planting trees, more than a few observers raised their eyebrows. After all, isn't the world's most prestigious peace prize typically reserved for those who have...
Concern for the small animals
By Meron Benvenisti, Ha'aretz 9/10/2004
Two main demands have been raised by environment groups in connection with the environmental damage caused by the separation fence: "environmental compensation" within the Green Line and "setting up crossing points for small animals." One stands incredulous before such a blatant expression of disregard for...
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...
Backs to the Wall
By Lucy Mair and Robyn, Electronic Intifada 11/24/2003
Uncertainty about the future intensified for Mufida Ahmad’s family this year when a mammoth wall ripped through their land in the West Bank village of Jayyus. Ahmad and her husband had bought the quarter acre for $1,400—a hefty but hopeful investment for the family...
Construction of wall in Israel/Palestine amounts to apartheid
By Miriam Ward, RSM, Catholic Peace Voice September-October 20
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, that wants it down.” (Robert Frost)Whether called a wall or a fence, the massive 200-mile, 25-foot-high concrete and razor wire barrier, now 90-miles complete, is, according to President Bush, a “problem” and “obstacle...
Living in the Shadow of the Wall (Jenin District)
Electronic Intifada 11/16/2003
Personal testimonies by Palestinians about the impact of the wall in their lives: Zububa (population about 2,000) is located in the northernmost tip of the Jenin district. At least 70 trees were uprooted to make room for the wall, and in some places the wall...
Matrix reloaded -- yet again
By Jonathan Cook, Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 13 - 19 November 200
Israel may one day create some sort of severely circumscribed state for the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza. The question is what kind of a nation will be left to enjoy its limited fruits. -- Israeli academic Jeff Halper has coined the phrase "the...
Final Status in the Shape of a Wall
By Catherine Cook, Middle East Report 9/3/2003
Around the city of Qalqilya, Israel's "security fence" is a 25-foot concrete wall crowned by watchtowers at regular intervals. In other areas, such as near the village of Falamiyya, it is a complex arrangement of structures that together form a formidable barrier. The "fence...
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...
Amnesty: Separation Wall Crippling Palestinian Economy
International Middle East Media Center 9/8/2003
A new report titled “Surviving under Siege” published by the London based human rights group Amnesty International, concluded that the construction of the separation wall was deepening the crippling economic impact on Palestinians. The report stated that the separation wall has serious economic and social...
Bad Fences Make Bad Neighbors - A Report By NAD (Part III )
Palestine Media Center 9/4/2003
There is only one thing I can do. I will buy a tent and move with my wife to live on the other side of the fence among my trees. I don’t know if the Israelis will let me do it. They certainly won’t let...
Letter: Tear down the Wall
By Miriam Ward, RSM, Brattleboro Reformer 8/8/2003
Something there is that doesn't love a wall, that wants it down.' So wrote Robert Frost. Not the most famous line of the poem, but Frost says it twice. Whether called a wall or a fence, the 200-mile, 25-foot-high-barrier, now 90 miles complete...
Book Review: The Wall in Palestine
PENGON/This Week in Palestine August, 2003
The Wall in Palestine: Facts, Testimonies, Analysis and Call to Action Edited by The Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON) Jerusalem, 2003, 199 pages. -- To date, some 300,000 people are currently affected by the land confiscation, tree uprooting and inaccessibility to lands and water due to...
Israeli Bulldozers Return to Encaged Qalqiliya City to Make Way for Wall "Buffer Zone"
PENGON 8/17/2003
The Same Day Sharon Declares "Handover" of City Israeli Bulldozers Return to Encaged Qalqiliya City to Make Way for Wall "Buffer Zone" -- Aug 17. Qalqiliya, Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign/PENGON. Israeli bulldozers, accompanied with three military jeeps along with armed guards of the Israeli construction companies...
Apartheid Wall
By Miriam Ward, RSM, Burlington Free Press 8/12/2003
Something there is that doesn't love a wall, that wants it down." So wrote Robert Frost. In June, I visited the "Wall", a 200-mile, 25-foot-high barrier, now 90-miles complete in the Northern West Bank. President Bush calls it a "problem" and "obstacle...
Tear down the Wall
By Miriam Ward, RSM, Brattleboro Reformer 8/8/2003
Something there is that doesn't love a wall, that wants it down." So wrote Robert Frost. Not the most famous line of the poem, but Frost says it twice. Whether called a wall or a fence, the 200-mile, 25-foot-high-barrier, now 90 miles complete...
Israeli security fence becomes big barrier for some farmers
Baltimore Sun 8/12/2003
Palestinians complain they've been walled off from their own wells, land -- JAYYOUS, West Bank - The Palestinian farmers living here in a tiny collection of squat homes built on steep, narrow roads of broken asphalt used to be considered wealthy, at least by the standards of...
Cry, the beloved two-state solution
By Ari Shavit, Ha'aretz Friday Magazine 8/8/2003
As negotiations with the Palestinians lurch forward and the separation wall snakes its way through the West Bank, two veteran leftists have reached a startling conclusion: There cannot be two states for two peoples in this land.1. The groundwater: Meron Benvenisti and Haim Hanegbi...
Threatening to Threaten Israel
Editorial, Miftah 8/8/2003
Always compliant when it comes to its close chum in the Middle East, the United States expressed its displeasure this week with Israel’s planned route for its so-called security wall with a typically pro-Israeli response. It did not threaten Israel. It threatened to threaten. For...
Security Fence Goes Further Than Apartheid
By Munir Chafic, Al-Hayat 8/4/2003
A number of Palestinian intellectuals insist on drawing a comparison between the apartheid (racial discrimination) system that prevailed in South Africa and the Jewish Zionist entity in Palestine. In fact, they view the security fence, which the Jewish state is building to separate the West...
Two Kinds of Prison: Reflections on Leaving Palestine
By Brooke Atherton, Electronic Intifada 7/29/2003
22 July 2003 -- On Thursday, a man in the streets of Qalqilia asked me, "Do they think we are animals? Not even human? They have put us in a cage."Every day that we visited the Qalqilia checkpoint, we watched the "progress" of the Israeli...
Israel's Apartheid Wall: Environmental Disaster in Palestine
By John Reese, Miftah 7/29/2003
In 1961, the world was transfixed as the Soviet Union enclosed West Berlin, Germany, in the 96-mile, 12-foot-high Berlin Wall. The social implications of the wall had a profound impact on world politics for nearly 30 years. In 2003, the world remains largely...
Racist fence deprives Palestinians of water
Palestinian Information Center 2003-07-28
Ramallah - Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank have been increasingly suffering from water shortage especially after the Zionist construction of the racial segregationist fence. Palestinians have been inventing ways of limiting water consumption especially in the arid southern West Bank areas...
"As Jayous Struggles to Live, Jawal Wants to Die"
BostontoPalestine 7/17/2003
Jayous is a northern West Bank agricultural village slowly being choked to death by Israel's "Apartheid Wall or "security fence". The fence, as it is best described in this area, cuts well into the West Bank, wraps in around Jewish settlements and cuts off land...
Deconstructing the Roadmap
By Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, Palestine Chronicle 2003-07-18
Poverty of spirit and moral obtuseness are the salient characteristics of current Israeli policy vis-à-vis the Palestinians in the context of the road map. Why else would the government stage a big show of “dismantling” or “evacuating” settlement outposts (that are largely vacant and makeshift...
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