The Wall Is Illegal, Now We Must Stop It
Jamal Juma’, PENGON/Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
February 21st, 2004 — The Israeli wall in the Occupied West Bank is almost one-third complete, a year and a half after construction began. It snakes deep inside the West Bank, devouring fertile land into de facto Israeli-controlled areas, encircling residential areas and ghettoizing the Palestinian population. [MORE]
Latest News, PENGON/Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
February 23rd, 2004 — As the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague hears Oral Arguments in the case against the Wall, the Israelis have decided they will not participate in the Hearing, aware that there is nothing legitimate–or legal–about the Wall. Instead, parallel Israeli efforts to undermine the case against the Wall were well underway from the start, including arguments that the political nature of the Wall should prevent the court from hearing the case. In the end, the media is an Israeli dominated arena where much of its political agenda plays itself out. [MORE]
The Wall in Palestine and the European Union
Victor de Currea-Lugo, Legal Advisor, Palestinian “Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign”
February 21st, 2004 — We believed in the power of the law when our Campaign received news of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution in October 2003. The Resolution demanded that Israel stop construction of the Wall and demolish the existing sections within one monthâs time. We believed, but conditionally, since Israelâs violation of international law and the UN resolutions is continuous and unhindered. [MORE]
Buses and Bantustans at The Hague
Amira Howeidy, Al Ahram Weekly On-line
February 19th, 2004 — The Palestinians are likely to win the legal debate over Israel’s separation wall in the World Court next week. But Tel Aviv has more leverage outside the courtroom. Amira Howeidy wonders who will have the last laugh. [MORE]
The ‘International Community’ and the Apartheid Wall
Samer Elatrash , ZNet
February 15th, 2004 — The twin spectres of “politicizing” the UN and damaging the “fragility” of non-existent peace talks between General Sharon and the decrepit Palestinian Authority are again being invoked, this time to scuttle the upcoming deliberations in the International Court of Justice at the Hague on the legality of Israel’s separation barrier in the occupied West Bank. [MORE]
Jonathan Cook , Al-Ahram Weekly Online
February 6th, 2004 — Israel’s furious diplomatic activity to sabotage a decision taken by the United Nations General Assembly last December to seek the opinion of its highest judicial body, the International Court of Justice, on the legality of Israel building its separation wall across large swaths of occupied Palestinian territory began to pay dividends at the weekend. By the Friday deadline for submitting affidavits, 31 states had joined Israel in rejecting the court’s authority to rule in the matter: 15 member states of the European Union, 10 further members-in-waiting, as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, Russia, South Africa and Cameroon. Britain, Germany and France presented their own, separately written affidavits. [MORE]
Dina Ezzat , Al Ahram Weekly On-line
January 22nd, 2004 — On the political front Arab-Israeli tensions are expected to escalate in coming weeks as both sides prepare arguments to present to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The ICJ will open hearings over the legality or otherwise of the separation wall Israel is constructing across the Palestinian occupied territories — as requested by the UN General Assembly — on 23 February.
The Arab League and four Arab countries — Egypt, Palestine, Jordan and Saudi Arabia — will present evidence to the ICJ on the illegality of the construction of the wall and its negative humanitarian and political consequences. [MORE]
Analysis, PENGON/Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
October 23rd, 2003 — The October 21 passing of the United Nations General Assembly resolution calling upon Israel to âstop and reverseâ the Apartheid Wall is being hailed by some as a mark of success for justice in Palestine or a noteworthy step in tearing the Wall down. But, praise and relief for the UN decision should be seen as misguided, as a reading of the text finds that the Resolution presents the issue within a framework that denies the fundamental distinction between Occupied and Occupier. [MORE]
The Wall and International Law
Mohammad Abu-Harthieh, Jerusalem Center for Human Rights
August 26th, 2003 — The Wall, as well as the Occupation itself as its wider context, is a manifest violation of human rights and international law. Violations include the principle of collective punishment (the wall is justified as a security structure, meaning that a whole people is to be locked in as a punishment for suicide attacks), the seizing of private property by an occupying power, demolition of houses to build the Wall, the violation of such basic human rights as the right of work and freedom of movement, and separating people from their families, another violation of basic human rights. [MORE]