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“This damned, racist wall”
by Omar Karmi 

FOR RESIDENTS of Jerusalem, the week was dominated by the start of construction of a concrete wall which will split the neighborhoods of Dahiet Al Barid and Al Ram down the middle and off from Jerusalem, leaving an estimated 80,000 residents isolated from Jerusalem and the medical and educational services there, as well as from their jobs and places of worship. In two days, one entire side of the road that runs from the Qalandia checkpoint into Jerusalem – the side of the road that ferries traffic in that direction – was torn up from the checkpoint to Dahiet Al Barid. Some three-four kilometers worth of tarmac was destroyed.

Residents of the neighborhoods have been fighting the construction in Israeli courts. On June 10, the Israeli High Court decided to hold an emergency session on the construction after a petition was filed on behalf of residents that they had not been given sufficient notice or information on the construction and had not been provided with maps of its route. On June 13, the High Court ruled that while the actual infrastructure of the wall – leveling of roads and pavements could continue – the placing of the eight-meter high concrete blocks would have to wait.

Hundreds of people held noon prayers on what had become a dirt road in Al Ram on June 11, in protest of the construction. “Anyone who helps build this damned, racist wall, or supplies material for building it is a sinner...a traitor, and should be shunned, or made to leave our country,” said Sheikh Tayseer Al Tamimi, who preached Friday’s sermon.

On the same day, Jerusalem’s Grand Mufti Ikrima Sabri, issued a fatwa against any Palestinians helping Israel build the wall, and branded them “traitors.”

But the beginning of construction of that section of Israel’s West Bank barrier was completely overshadowed by the beginning of construction on another part, around the Ariel settlement deep in the West Bank.

Construction of the Ariel segment began last week, and residents of the nearby Palestinian village of Al Zawiyah have been informed that 4,500 acres of their land is being confiscated by the Israeli occupation authorities. This segment of the barrier will cover an area some 3.5 kilometers long and 100 meters wide and will run between Ariel and Salfit.

Protests have been ongoing in the region, since residents of Al Zawiyah and neighboring villages took to the streets on June 10. On that day, more than 120 residents, according to Al Quds newspaper, suffered tear gas inhalation, as the Israeli army tried to break up demonstrators. The following days saw a repeat of those events and in five days of demonstrations at least 200 have been injured and dozens detained, including an American peace activist.

By June 12, accusations that the Israeli army used illegal nerve gas started surfacing. On June 14, town officials told Al Ayyam newspaper that the Israeli occupation troops were using an illegal substance that caused nerve spasms and that several cases had been transferred to Nablus hospitals.

The construction near the illegal settlement also brought international protests, even from the US. The administration of George W Bush has said that it does not object to the barrier in principle, but believes that it should be on, or very close to, the Green Line.

“We accept Israel’s right to build a fence for security, but when the route goes deep into the West Bank, it has political dimensions, and we have concerns about that,” said Paul Patin, a US embassy spokesman, quoted by the New York Times on June 15.

Also on June 15, US State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher said the American position that the barrier is problematic because it defines permanent boundaries, confiscates Palestinian territories and makes daily life more difficult for civilians is very clear. Boucher said this stance has been presented to Israel.

But US protests notwithstanding, according to Israeli press reports on June 16, the building of this segment of the barrier is part of a promise Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has extended to Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his support for the unilateral withdrawal plan from Gaza. The construction around Ariel as well as the Immanuel and Kedumim settlements is slated to be finished before May 2005, ahead of any withdrawal from Gaza.

In fact, Israel is considering moving settlers slated for evacuation from Gaza to expanded West Bank settlements despite US objections, the Israeli daily Maariv reported on June 15. The newspaper said Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz had ordered plans drawn up for hundreds of new homes at the Gush Etzion bloc for use by 7,500 Gaza settlers. A senior Israeli security source confirmed to the newspaper that the Gush Etzion idea was “being studied,” but said it had not yet received approval.

On June 14, the Israeli army started removing some barricades around the West Bank, saying a security “re-evaluation” had deemed it possible. Some 40 dirt barricades were removed and the iron gate on the Tulkarm-Nablus road was also taken away. But the security “reevaluation” did not stop the violence.

One person was killed in an Israeli army incursion into the Balatah refugee camp in Nablus on June 15. The incursion came four hours after an earlier incursion during a funeral injured three mourners.

The wounded had been attending the funerals of commander of Fateh’s military wing, Al Aqsa Brigades, Khalil Abu Marshoud, and Awad Abu Zeid, of no affiliation, who were killed on June 14 when missiles from Israeli helicopters blew up the taxi they were in. Another Aqsa Brigades activist was injured in the attack.

Three people were killed on June 10, including a 14-year-old boy in Nablus, and a stone-throwing youth in Beit Fajjar. An Aqsa Martyrs Brigades activist was killed in Jenin.

On June 12, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, PCHR, released a report counting 177 assassinations since the Intifada, killing a total of 374 people. Of those, only 239 were the actual targets. Of the 135 others, 45 were children, 14 women and 18 elderly men. Seven hundred and eighty seven people were injured in these attacks. -Published June 16, 2004©Palestine Report