Segregation
Wall Completely Isolates Palestinian Villages
Palestine Media Center
07 July, 2003
The residents of Nazlat Abu
Nar, Nazlat Isa, and Baqa al-Sharqiya in the northern West Bank, say
they have become completely cut off and isolated from the rest of the
West Bank because of the segregation wall, which Israel is building
east of the green line.
Before the wall was built,
one could see clearly from one village to the other. Now its
impossible, said Jawdat Ketana, 55, head of the Nazlat Abu Nar
village council.
It will be a major
inconvenience for anyone wanting to visit their family or go to hospital
and many Palestinians doubt they will be given freedom of movement through
the checkpoints, the village official told AFP.
But the most serious consequence
of the wall for thousands of Palestinian families is without doubt the
loss of their farmland and natural resources.
This northwest expanse of
the West Bank has been particularly blessed by fertile ground, which
has yielded olives, fruit and vegetables in abundance.
But the Israeli occupation
army has expropriated and razed thousands of hectares (acres), including
some of the most fertile land in the region, during the wall building.
Moreover, thousands of Palestinians
now find themselves living on one side of the wall with their fields
on the other.
Ketana, who like all the
inhabitants of Nazlat Abu Nar is dependent on farming, says he has lost
0.8 hectares (two acres), representing two thirds of his land, as a
result of the wall. Now he is left with just a few fields.
Abdullah, who works with
his five sons, fears that there will be nothing left.
It leaves a question
mark over our whole future, he said.
This year has been
the most difficult we have ever known.
All the families in the village
were becoming increasingly dependent on aid from international or Palestinian
organizations to make ends meet, Abdullah added.
They are strangling
us. The people can no longer breathe, he said.
He added that has no doubt
that this wall will replace the green line and become the
de facto border between Israel and a future Palestinian state.
Israel began building the
segregation wall in June 2002.
The Palestine National Authority
(PNA) has repeatedly slammed the wall as another Israeli step aimed
at creating a new status quo (by annexing more Palestinian land) in
the occupied Palestinian territory and destroying the roadmapa
peace blueprint for solving the Mideast conflict put forward by the
diplomatic Quartet of negotiators from the US, EU, Russia
and the UN.
The 600-km long, 8-meter
high wall, which has already annexed thousands of dunums of Palestines
most fertile agricultural land, would render about 95,000 Palestinians
on the wrong side of the wall, totally isolated from the
majority of Palestinians living on the other side of the barrier, a
study by the EU, US, World Bank and International Monetary Fund has
revealed.
US Raise Objection to the
Wall During Rice Visit
Last month, Condoleezza Rice,
the US national security adviser, has raised objections to the wall
with Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon during a visit to Israel and
the occupied territory.
According to the Israeli
daily Yediot Aharonot, Rice told Sharon that the construction of the
wall was seen by Palestinians as the precursor to the border of a future
Palestinian state.
The route of the security
fence that you are building... arouses our deep concern, Yediot
quoted Rice as saying. I propose that you reconsider the route
where the fence passes.
American and Israeli officials
said Sharon rebuffed Rices comments.
US administration officials
said that Rices position illustrates the US new willingness to
prod Israel and to get involved in the minutiae of the negotiations,
the New York Times said.
A senior US official said
that in fact more pressure on Israel to stop construction of the wall
is certain in coming weeks. The very fact that Rice raised the
issue of the fence with Sharon is significant, said an administration
official. We will be back on this issue if things don't improve.
Administration officials
also said that the exchange between Rice and Sharon also shows a decision
to direct more pressure on Israel from both the White House and the
State Department.