Palestinians argue against building wall in West Bank

The Israeli government’s construction of a wall in the West Bank, explained as a measure of… The Israeli government’s construction of a wall in the West Bank, explained as a measure of defense, is part of a plan to break the will and dreams of the Palestinian people, according to two Palestinian officials.

“The real reason for building the wall is not security,” Fayez Audeh, a coordinator for both the Farmers Union in Tulkarem and the Stop the Wall campaign, said through an interpreter at the Monumental Baptist Church last Thursday, as part of the Palestine Labor/Stop the Wall tour.

“This is the last bullet used by [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon to throw at the Palestinians,” he added.

Sharon led his government in ordering the construction of a wall in response to continued protests and terrorist attacks from some Palestinians in the disputed West Bank territory of the Middle East.

“I also think the wall is a mistake,” said Aaron Weil, the executive director of the Hillel Jewish University Center, in an interview yesterday. “The wall is a non-hermetic wall.”

The wall, if completed, would stretch the entire length of the West Bank, from the northern city of Jenin to Hebron in the south. At this time, 80 percent of the wall along the border of Israel is complete, according to Audeh. But Weil does not believe the wall could accomplish its goal of keeping suicide bombers out of Israeli civilian areas.

Weil said new methods of attack, such as missiles, would undermine the Israeli effort.

According to Audeh, a wall is also being built on the eastern side of the West Bank, bordering Jordan. Audeh estimated that the eastern wall was 20 percent complete.

“That would be close to impossible,” Weil said of Audeh’s assertion. “I question even the terminology. He might be referring to electric sensors … [But] it’s a ludicrous fantasy to imagine that Israel could build what they are describing.”

Audeh said the placement of the wall strategically divided and isolated Palestinian regions. He added that 400,000 Palestinians remain on the Israeli side of the wall.

He also said the wall quarantined an important reservoir in Qalqilya from the rest of Palestine.

“That’s not true,” Weil said. “The reservoirs are underground.”

Weil said the water could be tapped, similar to the way oil reserves are tapped, and that the wall would in no way deny the Palestinians access to the reservoir.

On a map of the West Bank, Audeh showed how the wall would divide Palestine into four disconnected sections. He also questioned the need for a wall on the eastern border of the West Bank.

Abdel Latif Khatib, a member of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, also spoke through an interpreter at the conference.

“The recent Israeli invasion is just a myth,” Khatib said. “It’s an attack on the Palestinian economy, health and education.”

Khatib said 140,000 legal Palestinian workers who were working in Israel lost their jobs because of the current situation. Citing information from the International Workers Union and a Palestinian statistics bureau, he added that the unemployment rate among Palestinians rose from 11 percent in 2000 to 78 percent in 2003.

According to Khatib, Palestinian financial injuries reached $4 billion. He cited examples of concern, such as the Genaid Dairy Company slashing its production from 80 tons to two tons and its workforce from 150 to 30 workers.

Khatib said Israeli-controlled borders prevent resources from passing through efficiently enough to sustain business. He also said border control damaged health service and education in the West Bank.

“Many sick Palestinians are dying on the checkpoints,” Khatib said. “Many women delivered babies while on the checkpoint.

“Many of the workers had children who were attending schools and universities, but they cannot support those children anymore,” he added. “Sharon is implementing policies toward his ideal ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.”

Audeh echoed that sentiment.

“The facts on the ground show that there is ethnic cleansing going on,” Audeh said.

Weil said the Israeli-controlled borders have slowed down ambulances and students, but argued that the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, has done more to violate the human rights of Palestinians than any outside force by delaying democratic reforms and denying funding to health care.

According to Audeh and Khatib, the American media has not fairly represented the Palestinian case.

Media sources disagreed on whether the structure in the West Bank should properly be called a wall, as Audeh and Khatib asserted, or a fence, as some outlets of information have referred to it.

Audeh said he does not believe the physical division, whatever its name, represents the intentions of all Israelis.

“I hope the circumstances would come out that would help the Israeli citizens who want peace and justice,” he said. “I believe that there is a hope that the Israeli people will turn against their government.”

On Wednesday, Sept. 24, 27 Israeli reserve pilots petitioned a higher officer, announcing their refusal to fly missions into Palestinian territories, calling such missions “illegal and immoral.”

Audeh and Khatib also said American television broadcasts only images favorable to the Israeli standpoint, such as footage documenting the results of terrorist attacks on Israeli buses, without showing comparable images of Israeli military actions.

According to the Associated Press, 101 Palestinians died as suicide bombers in the last three years. A total of 3,337 people have died because of the fighting in the region, including 2,417 on the Palestinian side, 860 on the Israeli side and 60 Palestinians believed to be informants for Israel killed by Palestinians.

The Israeli government defended the construction of the barrier, saying it would prevent Palestinian militants from entering Israel.