Apartheid Wall: Protesting 'this evil thing'

With protests also taking place in several Arab capitals, including Cairo, thousands of Palestinians and international peace activists came together in demonstrations throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, coinciding with the hearings in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on the legality of the Israeli separation wall. Palestinians contend that the huge barrier is carving into large swathes of their land, ghettoising their towns and villages. Demonstrators flocked to towns and villages encircled by the wall, carrying large signs and placards denouncing the gigantic structure as "evil and criminal". One sign held aloft by a demonstrator in downtown Hebron described the "Nazi wall" as the "moral equivalent of a holocaust".

Speaking of the wall, Palestinian Authority (PA) premier Ahmed Qurei urged Palestinians and "conscientious people" around the globe to "make a strong stand against this obscenity". Alluding to the Nazi era he added: "This obscene wall reminds all of us of some of the darkest episodes of human history."

Shortly before the ICJ hearings began, PA Chairman Yasser Arafat accused Israel of seeking to "destroy the very possibility of a viable Palestinian state". In a televised address, Arafat said the wall was carving into more than 58 per cent of the total area of the West Bank, turning "our towns and villages into Bantustans and ghettos controlled by Jewish settlements which the occupation regime established on our land by force". Arafat appealed to "peace-loving Israelis" to join forces with the Palestinian people to express their rejection of the "expansionist wall" for the sake of "a just and lasting peace between our two peoples".

Among the many international peace activists joining the demonstrations against the wall in the West Bank was Dorah Rosen, a Jewish American woman from Birmingham, Alabama. She referred to the wall as "this evil thing", saying that, "walls will never bring peace and reconciliation, neither here nor elsewhere". She described as "mendacious and utterly disingenuous" Israeli claims that the wall is intended first and foremost to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers from infiltrating into Israel. Rosen denied that the bulk of the American Jewry were behind Israel whether it is "right or wrong". She also disparaged the role of the American-Israeli Public Action Committee (AIPAC), a pressure group representing an influential minority of American Jews.

In Abu Dis, where one of the largest demonstrations took place, Israeli troops and border police fired tear gas canisters and rubber- coated bullets on protesters, injuring a number of them. Several journalists and cameramen also suffered from gas inhalation and some of them had to be transferred to hospital.

In Hebron in the southern West Bank, Israeli troops posted on high rooftops also opened fire on protesters, injuring five people. Among those taking part in the Hebron demonstration was Palestinian Legislative Council member Mohamed Hourani. He told Al-Ahram Weekly that the PA hoped that a "positive verdict" by the ICJ would "create a certain international momentum not only against the wall, but also against the Israeli occupation of our homeland".

"We realise that a decision by the ICJ declaring the wall illegal will not create miracles. But we will seek to mobilise the international community and the United Nations to act upon the decision. I assure you we are not going to sit back and indulge in self- gratification after a decision denouncing the wall is adopted," Hourani said. "We will follow the South African example in the hope that this nefarious occupation of our country will come to an end once and for all as the defunct apartheid regime in South Africa ended once and for all," he added.

In Ramallah, thousands of Palestinians including civic and political leaders gathered in Al-Manara Square in protest. High-ranking Fatah official Sakhr Habash told the Weekly that he hoped a condemnatory verdict by the ICJ would "hound and haunt every Israeli wherever he or she goes with the stigma that they belong to a racist state".

Both Hourani and Habash condemned Sunday's bus-bombing attack in West Jerusalem, describing it as "stupid and playing into Israeli hands". Several other Palestinian leaders have likewise denounced the suicide bombing, calling it a "timely propaganda gift for the Israeli government".

Indeed, Israel wasted no time in making full use of Sunday's bus-bombing in West Jerusalem in which eight Israelis, including at least two soldiers, were killed and over 30 others were injured, as a propaganda gimmick to counter Palestinian media efforts against the wall. Israeli authorities on Monday moved the shell of the bombed bus to a prominent site opposite the apartheid wall in Abu Dis. Israeli officials hoped the juxtaposition would act as an effective justification Israel's position; namely that the wall is a defensive measure against Palestinian violence.

Most Palestinians voiced deep consternation at the bombing which could not have come at a worse time. Some Israeli commentators seemed to stop short of thanking Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military wing of Fatah, for carrying out the bombing. Palestinian dismay was such that some junior officials initially suggested that Israel might have had some connection with the bombing in order to tarnish the Palestinian image and vindicate the building of the separation wall. Eager to boost to the maximum their public relations effort to counter the hearings in The Hague, Israel refrained "for the time being" from retaliating. The Israeli army, however, did impose a hermetic closure on Bethlehem and destroyed the bomber's family home in the nearby village of Housan.

PA officials, who had hoped that no such bombings would take place ahead of the ICJ hearing, strongly condemned the bombing, rejecting the use of "violence against Palestinian and Israeli civilians". Moreover, the Palestinian National Security Council decided to "pursue" those responsible for the bombing and prosecute them for "undermining Palestinian national interests".

What remains unclear, however, is what prompted Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade to carry out a bombing that proved in every way to be a public relations disaster for Palestinians at such a sensitive time. The most likely reason, said one Fatah official, on condition of anonymity, is "the loss of hope in the world's ability and willingness to give the Palestinians the justice they deserve".

C a p t i o n : Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem participate in a demonstration against the apartheid wall on Monday as the world court began its hearings on the legality of the barrier in The Hague.
(photo: AP)

Al-Ahram Weekly.