ABOUT US

The Campaign’s aim to tear down the Wall is aligned with the Palestinian desire for liberation—for those of us inside and in exile, the young and old, those who have died, and those yet to be born.

We are part of the struggle to protect our birthright to not only exist, but to reclaim our history and our ancestral land, and ensure a just future for the Palestinian people. Our vision is built upon our strength of will and steadfastness, which, like the roots of our ancient olive trees, run deep within our struggle and continue to feed our resistance. We stand firmly in the belief that these basic principles of our cause must not be betrayed or compromised. We will not relinquish our right to our lands, and we will not stand by while a new Nakba descends upon our people.

The Wall is an integral part of the settler-colonial project of Zionism to remove Palestinians from Palestine and to install supremacist rule – Israel’s version of apartheid – over our lives and lands

We strongly believe that the wall can be torn down, and with it, the racist ambitions of Israeli apartheid. We know that our struggle will not be won tomorrow, and we are not in a hurry. Our road ahead is long, and so we must build a strong foundation of resistance by staying honest and true to our principles. Generation after generation, we have to provide the youth with the lessons, guidance and trust they need and deserve so that they can continue to lead our struggle until one day we will be free and able to return to our homes.

The Palestinian struggle is, at its core, a basic human instinct and drive for self-determination. We share this yearning for freedom, justice and liberation with people across the world and the unity of our diverse struggles will eventually give us the power to overcome

Our Aims:

Since the Wall’s inception in 2002 the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (or Stop the Wall) has been the main national grassroots body mobilizing and organizing the collective efforts against the Apartheid Wall. It is based on the efforts of popular committees in the villages affected by the Wall where people can meet, organize, strategize and mobilize. A coordination mechanism in each West Bank district allows regional coordination as well as West Bank wide coordination. Stop the Wall coordinates national networking, research and international outreach. The immediate goals of the Stop the Wall campaign have been sanctioned by the decision of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the construction of the Wall (July 9 2004) and are

• The immediate cessation of the building of the Wall.
• The dismantling of all parts of the Wall and its related zones already built.
• The return of lands confiscated for the path of the Wall. 
• The compensation of damages and lost income due to the destruction of land and property in addition to the restitution of land.

Our vision:

Stop the Wall considers the Wall as an integral project of Israel’s occupation, colonialism and apartheid and hence understands the struggle against the Wall as part of the overall effort of the Palestinian people to achieve self-determination, equality and the return of the refugees. 

Stop the Wall believes that at this stage it has to be a national priority to reinforce popular resistance – the united struggle by a people that are politically aware, critical and actively mobilized to contribute to the overall goals of the national body.  We believe popular resistance is a uniting force that can bring together all Palestinian forces and all Palestinians, irrespective of their political background or affiliation.

After the failure of the “peace process” and years of ‘bureaucratization’ of the Palestinian struggle during the Oslo period, Stop the Wall works to bring back protagonism to the grassroots fostering the participation of the farmers, the workers, the youth and the women in the political decision making and popular action. 

Stop the Wall believes in the need of national coordination and calls for accountability, participation and transparency in the decision making and implementation of Palestinian politics.The decisions that are to be made regard the future of us all and the most fundamental questions of our national and human rights and can’t be left in the hands of a small elite.

As a popular movement we aim to give an example of resistance and of structures of struggle that contribute effectively to the wider Palestinian national democratic movement. We work towards the national aspirations, above all the right of return, self-determination and a society based on pluralism, rule of law and respect for human rights and social justice. We reinforce the unity of Palestinians under occupation, Palestinian citizens of Israel and refugees in the Diaspora.

We have to give particular attention and support to the growing new generation of Palestinians and provide the youth with the lessons, guidance and trust they need and deserve so that they can continue to lead our struggle until one day we will be free and able to return to our homes. 

Stop the Wall acts at international level because the Palestinian cause is by definition international and internationalist. Created by the colonial powers, until to date the Israeli project of ethnic cleansing and apartheid is sustainable only due to continued international support. At the same time, our call for justice, freedom and human rights connects us with the majority of the people around the globe. We count on their support and on our joint struggle to develop effective pressure on institutions, corporations and governments to not only hold Israel accountable and stop international support to Israeli occupation, colonialism and apartheid but to build a World without Walls, where people prevail over profit and oppression.

We believe in the importance of truly global solidarity and the unity of anti-colonial and social justice struggles of people across the world. The global solidarity developed during the times of the anti-apartheid movement in the 80s, gives clear indicators how citizens all over the globe can support the Palestinian efforts and can effect change even from across the oceans. It is from there that we draw inspiration as we   build the boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israeli apartheid. 

We further believe that the United Nations – who have rubberstamped with UN Resolution 181 our expulsion, occupation and colonization – have an important role to play in order to hold Israel accountable for its crimes. In particular, the decision on the legal consequences of the Wall by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has to be activated together with a series of other measures that hold Israel accountable. We therefore fully support and promote the Palestinian call for Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions issued on July 9 2005, the first aniversary of the ICJ decision on the Wall, and the Palestinian civil society statement against annexation and Israeli apartheid, issued in June 2020.

What we do:

Stop the Wall on the Ground

Popular struggle

Stop the Wall is formed by and expression of the popular committees against the Wall and the settlements. We organize meetings in affected communities and we form and support  popular committees across the West Bank to lead the struggle. We organize activities and actions to strengthen the steadfastness of Palestinians in areas particularly targeted by the occupation. We facilitate community activities against the Wall and coordinate popular  campaigns, actions and protests at national level.

Palestinian Civil Society and National Mobilization

Stop the Wall works to bring Palestinian civil society – at the grassroots and the NGO level –  together in creating and promoting actions, campaigns and policies against the Wall and Israel’s apartheid policies, with the aim to develop the broadest possible national consensus around the same goals within a unified framework. We further encourage organizations to support and respond to people’s needs stand steadfast in the face of Israel’s apartheid, occupation and attempts of annexation of their lands and not to engage in projects that may aid or abet the situation created by Israel’s illegal Wall or other violations of our rights.

Information, analysis and awareness raising

From the inception Stop the Wall has placed substantial energy into information creation and dissemination as well as the development of analysis about the Wall, the Palestinian question and the global justice struggle.

The facts and figures as well as the voices of the people we bring together and we share are not only witness of the reality on the ground but form part of an analysis and strategic vision that develops based on the needs and aspirations of the people in struggle.

Our publications (factsheets, powerpoint presentations, photo exhibits, newsletters, briefings and books) are tools of mobilization and advocacy which contribute to debates around resistance to the Wall and Israeli apartheid. They are available through our internet outlets.

National networking

Stop the Wall acts as a platform for progressive and democratic forces to come together and develop joint action. We lead and join common efforts as a key mobilizing force during national events such as Nakba Day or Land Day. As co-founders of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), we join and co-organize actions of the local BDS committees across the West Bank.

In October 2019, we have played a leading part in the “United in Struggle” popular resistance conference that  brought together the Palestinian forces engaged in popular struggle from the occupied West Bank, the political parties, Palestinian movements fom inside the Green Line and the Gaza Strip in order to build a national strategy of struggle.

Stop the Wall forms as well part of a number of other Palestinian coalitions, such as: the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the Civic Coalition for the Protection of Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, the National Committee for the Commemoration of the Nakba and the Palestine COP26 Coalition.

Support for the Palestinian youth movement

Since 2006, Stop the Wall has been working on education and mobilization of Palestinian youth encouraging the construction of independent decision making mechanisms and youth leadership. 

Stop the Wall has given a space for youth themselves to take the lead in forming the Palestine Youth Forum as an entity representing them, their concerns, aspirations and as a platform to convey their voices. We have therefore actively supported the two national conferences of the Palestine Yuth Forum in 2016 and 2018 as well as their participation and leadership in popular actions.

Today, we support where necessary the consolidation and efforts of various youth initiatives through the Palestinian Youth Forum

Women

As a popular movement, we believe that the revitalization of the Palestinian struggle for liberation must include feminism. We also believe that for feminism to be effective in the struggle for liberation, it has to be built from the bottom-up through the struggle of new generations of women and the mass participation of women in popular actions, especially those marginalized due to the occupation and patriarchy. 

To this end, we offer support to young women to take the lead in the Palestine Youth Forum’s activities and other popular actions. Further, we are supporting womens’ initiatives in the most marginalized areas, such as the rural cooperatives in Burin and Aseera, as a way to support women’s independence economically and socially, as well as to empower them politically. 

Targeting public opinion

Stop the Wall raises awareness about the effects of the Wall and the settlements, their illegality and role within the overall Israeli apartheid regime and its project of expulsion and ghettoization of the Palestinian people. We underline the obligation of the international community not to recognize and not to render any aid and assistance to Israeli violations of Palestinian rights and international law.

World without Walls 

Only months after Donald Trump came to power, Mexican and Palestinian movements launched the call for a World without Walls, [INSERT LINK] which was quickly endorsed by hundreds of movements, global networks, groups, and organizations from all continents.

As we stated in the call,

“From Israel’s apartheid Wall on Palestinian land to the US Wall of Shame on indigenous land at the border with Mexico – Walls are monuments of expulsion, exclusion, oppression, discrimination and exploitation. […] Walls have not only risen to fortify borders of state control but demarcate the boundaries between the rich, the powerful, the socially acceptable and the ‘other.’”

Observing from Palestine the growing number of walls and the corresponding rise of ultra right-wing, racist, supremacist and militarist narrative and policies, it seems as if the world is undergoing a process of ‘Israelization’. 

Endorsed by over 400 movements, World without Walls is a space to raise awareness about the devastating effect of the increasing dominance of walls in our world and our lives; develop analysis to understand the interconnections; create solidarity ties and joint action among the people and movements fighting the walls to resist and defund those that profit from the walls. 

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)

Stop the Wall has been working since the beginning towards the Palestinian Unified Call for BDS, issued by over 170 Palestinian organizations on July 9 2005, exactly one year after the decision of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the Wall. We have been a key player in the formation of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) and are now in the BNC’s secretariat. Stop the Wall contributes significantly at national and international level to the BNC’s efforts. In particular we focus our efforts on:

Military embargo against Israel

The urgency for an end to military relations with Israel and the defunding of its military and homeland security complex is evident to each of the activists struggling on the ground against the Wall and the settlements and facing Israeli military repression. We ask the world to urgently act upon the Palestinian call for a mandatory, comprehensive military embargo issued on July 9 2011 by the BNC.

Stop Elbit

Stop the Wall calls for divestments and boycotts of Israel’s largest private military company that plays a key role in the construction of the Wall and provides the drones used in “targeted assassinations”, the 2006 war against Lebanon and the attacks on Gaza in 2008/9 and 2014. Over 13 financial institutions have already excluded the company from their portfolios. For more and ongoing campaigns, see: https://stopthewall.org/divest-elbit

Outreach to the global south

Stop the Wall gives a particular focus to building ties of mutual solidarity and jonit struggle with the global south, and those colonised within the global north. With this, we want to get back to the roots and essence of the Palestinian as an anti-colonial, anti-racist struggle, embedded in a much larger effort to change power relations. 

Furthermore, the emerging markets in the south are of vital importance for the economic sustainability of Israeli apartheid and the active participation of the global south in the BDS movement is therefore crucial.

Emergency response

Our international outreach has the fundamental task to help protecting and supporting the communities and activists on the ground.

Israel has escalated home demolitions and the drive to destroy entire communities, attacks on farmers and their lands and continues direct repression of human rights defenders through imprisonment and other forms of harassment or intimidation. For more on repression of human rights defenders see here and here [insert links]

As Stop the Wall, we build ad hoc campaign to react to immediate attacks and threats by denouncing Israel’s actions internationally, lobbying international actors of civil society, in governments or at the UN.

Frequently Asked Questions:

1) What forms of resistance does Stop the Wall promote?

Stop the Wall promotes popular resistance; this is grassroots and people-driven activism in defense of human rights. This takes a myriad of forms, such as awareness raising seminars, festivals, media events, protests etc. The actions are aimed to oppose Israeli policies of occupation, colonization and apartheid and include an active support for the boycott and anti-normalization movement within Palestine. Stop the Wall further promotes initiatives to support Palestinian farmers and communities to stay steadfast on their threatened land and under extreme conditions of ghettoization imposed on them through the Wall and its related infrastructure.

2) Does Stop the Wall support a one-state or two-state solution?

Stop the Wall does not explicitly support one solution against the other. We believe that our struggle has to focus on gaining our human and national rights. Within the consensus on the achievement of our rights, members, volunteers and supporters of Stop the Wall have and may keep different opinions about the best solution in terms of statehood.

However, it is clear for all that there is no space for a two-state solution as long as the Wall continues to rip apart the West Bank and creates a de facto Bantustan and ghetto situation. A two-state solution cannot be a cover up for a de facto Bantustan option. The Wall has to be torn down to make any lasting and just peace and solution possible.

Further, Stop the Wall sees the struggle against the Wall as an integral part of the overall struggle for liberation of the Palestinian people. Therefore, the struggle to tear down the apartheid Wall is part of the broader struggle for Palestinian rights as defined by international law and UN resolutions, namely:

• The end of the occupation and colonization of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, as well as the dismantling of the Wall.
• Implementation of the right of return for the Palestinian refugees to their homes and lands from which they have been expelled.
• End of racial discrimination and apartheid against the Palestinian citizens of Israel.
  

3) Does Stop the Wall support some Palestinian political parties?

Stop the Wall does not support any political party in specific. Stop the Wall supports the unification of Palestinian political forces that promote popular resistance and uphold Palestinian fundamental rights.

Affiliation to its popular committees is on individual basis and activists in the popular committees come from many different political, ideological and social backgrounds.

Stop the Wall is a progressive, national secular platform, created by people and organizations with different party affiliations and without party affiliations, where they unify their actions against the Wall and the settlements and for ongoing popular resistance against Israeli apartheid.

4) Has Stop the Wall contacts with some Israeli organizations which support the Palestinian struggle?

Stop the Wall does have contacts with Israeli organizations which support the Palestinian rights.

Stop the Wall popular committees decide on a case to case basis how they structure their relationships with Israeli and international organizations and activists supporting their efforts.

Stop the Wall insists that cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli organizations is to be based on the national Palestinian guidelines of anti-normalization that are the result of large consultation and consensus building by the Palestinian BDS National Committee.  

5)   Does Stop the Wall support specific parties or government internationally?

Stop the Wall does not support any government or political party as such.

Stop the Wall seeks to work closely with any government, organization and party that are ready to work towards the achievement of Palestinian liberation and to hold Israel accountable for its crimes, if this is done within a framework of universal respect for human rights and values of justice and equality.

Stop the Wall recognizes and is grateful for the positive steps done in this respect as well as certain openness on behalf of some government to address continuing forms of complicity with Israeli apartheid and to take further action to promote Palestinian rights.

6) How can I support Stop the Wall’s struggle?

The most effective support for Palestinian popular struggle is a combined action of awareness raising and ending international complicity with Israel.

We ask you to:
Use our resources to raise awareness about the Wall and Israeli policies of occupation and apartheid
Join the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement to stop international complicity with Israeli policies.

Ultimately, only the end of international financial, political, military and cultural support to Israeli apartheid will bring about the necessary support to the Palestinian struggle that will allow to achieve effective and lasting change and bring justice and liberation to Palestine.

You can help Stop the Wall’s international outreach by volunteering – online or in our offices – in the preparation of resources, translation and research. Please contact: global@stopthewall.org.

7)  Does Stop the Wall accept donations?

Stop the Wall accepts private and organizational donations. You can donate online at: