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Wall Is Act of Agression
Kristin Peterson-Ishaq, Rutland Daily Herald January 26, 2006
I commend the Herald for publishing discussion on Israel's separation wall, an important issue receiving scant U.S. media attention. This wall -- planned to stretch 400 miles within the West Bank, or four times as long and twice as high as the Berlin Wall -- is an ugly admission of Israel's unwillingness to negotiate with the Palestinians it has largely dispossessed and whose land it still occupies. A unilateral exercise of Israeli military might, costing $4.6 million per mile, the wall is being built deep within Palestinian territory and will de facto annex much of the West Bank. Because Israel is not constructing this wall on its own territory, the International Court of Justice has condemned it and called for an end to construction and reparations to Palestinians whose lands were seized.The situation in the Palestinian village of Aboud, where our family lives, is illustrative. Aboud's people -- half are Christians, the other half, Muslims -- are peacefully demonstrating, with internationals and Israelis of conscience, to stop the wall now going through their village. This will rob them of 30 percent of their land and crops, access to their fields, and their aquifer, which contains 20 percent of the West Bank's water.The United States is deeply involved in the Middle East, and its economic and diplomatic assistance to Israel is unique. As citizens, we are responsible for understanding what is being done in our name and with our money. We are duty-bound to let our government know what we think.[Also published in the Burlington Free Press Februray 6, 2006 as "Citizens duty-bound to understand".]
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