A WALL OF SEPARATION TODAY?

There's a name for war and killing. There's a name for giving in. When you know another answer for me the name is sin.

But there's still time to turn around and make all hatred cease and give another name to living and we could call it PEACE....

John Denver, 1982

Some of us believe that the world had seen enough separation during the years of the cold War, not only because of the antagonism shown but for the necessity they had to build a Medieval Wall to separate Germany in two. Well, the world is nowadays separated again, by hate, difference, lack of agreement, war. Israelis decided to build a "Wall of Defense" from Palestinians, being the result: hate, division, more difference, violation to Human Rights.

The construction of the Israeli separation wall began on the 16th June 2002. For the most part the barrier, which could eventually extend over 750km, consists of a series of 25 foot high concrete walls, trenches, barbed wire and electrified fencing with numerous watch towers, electronic sensors, thermal imaging and video cameras, unmanned aerial vehicles, sniper towers, and roads for patrol vehicles.

Israel maintains that the Wall is a temporary structure to physically separate the West Bank from Israel and thus to prevent suicide attacks on Israeli citizens. However the wall’s location, (in some places reaching up to 6km inside Palestinian territory), and projected length, (currently 750km, despite a border with Israel of less than 200km), suggest it is more realistically an additional effort to confiscate Palestinian land, facilitate further colony expansion and unilaterally redraw geopolitical borders all the while encouraging an exodus of Palestinians by denying them the ability to earn a living from their land, reach their schools or work places, access adequate water resources, or reach essential health care. Moving the Border Perhaps undue attention has been given to the wall, primarily because it is assumed it follows the Green Line - the internationally recognized border that existed between Israel and the West Bank until the war of 1967.

Amnesty International believes that the construction by Israel of the fence/wall inside the Occupied Territories violates international law and is contributing to grave human rights violations.

According to the Israeli authorities the fence/wall is "a defensive measure, designed to block the passage of terrorists, weapons and explosives into the State of Israel...."

However, most of the fence/wall is not being constructed on the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank. Close to 90% of the route of the fence/wall is on Palestinian land inside the West Bank, encircling Palestinian towns and villages and cutting off communities and families from each other, separating farmers from their land and Palestinians from their places of work and education and health care facilities and other essential services.

The fence/wall encompasses more than 50 Israeli civilian settlements in the Occupied Territories, in which the majority of Israeli settlers live and which are illegal under international law. The security exceptions in international humanitarian law cannot be invoked to justify measures that benefit unlawful civilian Israeli settlements at the expense of the occupied Palestinian population. The construction of the fence/wall inside the Occupied Territories is such a measure and in its present configuration violates Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law.

Read the article and watch the video. Write down a critical balance about the building of the wall of separation between Israelis and Palestinians.