Joyce Semaan
Palestinians have hailed a decision handed down on July 9 by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that declared the apartheid wall that Israel is constructing in the West Bank illegal. The decision came after five months of deliberations during which evidence from both sides was brought before the judges.
Israel has refused to accept the non-binding ruling, insisting that the wall is necessary for its security. A senior aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated, "I believe that after all the rancour dies this resolution will find its place in the garbage can of history".
The 650-kilometre wall cuts deep into the West Bank to encircle illegal Jewish-only settlements and much of the Wester Aquifer. The eight-metre-high fence, which is costing $2 million a kilometre, will include huge slabs of concrete, armed watchtowers lurking over Palestinian territory, razor wire, electric wire and cameras. It will make parts of Palestine reminiscent of an open-air concentration camp.
The wall's construction is the first war crime in Israel's nearly 60-year history of violence and oppression against the Palestinian people to be heard before the international court.
The Palestinian envoys to the UN are likely to ask the General Assembly as soon as possible to adopt a resolution reaffirming the court's decision. They are also planning to take a proposal to the 15-member Security Council. Palestinian Authority advisor Nabil Abu Rdainah, told a July 10 press conference that the Palestinians would use the decision to push the UN Security Council and General Assembly to "isolate and punish" Israel.
The repercussions could be enormously damaging for Israel, possibly opening it up to international sanctions and boycotts against the rogue state, similar to action taken against apartheid South Africa after the ICJ made a ruling against that racist regime in 1971.
The United States will not support such moves. In a July 9 press conference, White House spokesperson Scott McClellan said it was "inappropriate" for the ICJ to issue the ruling, and said it would interfere with the peace process. Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry agreed, saying, "Israel's fence is a legitimate response to terror that only exists in response to the wave of terror attacks against Israel ... It is not a matter for the ICJ."
However, it is Israel's illegal and violent occupation conducted with tanks and Apache helicopters, its policy of home demolitions and extra-judicial killings, and its ritual and systematic humiliation of Palestinians that is interfering with the peace process.
The apartheid wall condenses all of the crimes of Israeli occupation into one project. Every basic human right sanctioned in international law is being violated by this single monstrosity.
The ICJ's majority decision (the one dissenting judge was Thomas Buergenthal from the US) said that:
- Israel's construction of the wall in occupied Palestinian territory is contrary to international law;
- Israel must instantly halt construction of the wall in all areas, dismantle parts already built and repeal any legislation promoting the wall;
- Israel must make reparations for damages caused by the construction of the wall;
- all states are under an obligation not to recognise the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction; and
- the UN, and especially its General Assembly and the Security Council, should consider what further action is required to bring to an end the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall and the associated regime.
The campaign continues
Meanwhile, Azmi Bashara, an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset, started a hunger strike on July 1 in protest of the wall. He was immediately joined by several other high profile Palestinians. They plan to camp in the village of Al-Ram, adjacent to the path of the wall. The wall will separate the residents of Al-Ram from their historic lands, a separation many thousands of Palestinians have already suffered as a result of the path of the wall.
The Free Palestine Alliance in the US has issued a call for a fast in solidarity with Bashara and the other Palestinians protesting the wall. Pitching tents in cities across the US, activists will fast over a total of six days, with dates chosen to coincide with the Democratic and Republican conventions and the presidential inauguration next year.
The historic ruling by the ICJ is only one more international ruling Israel, sometimes described as an army with a state, will ignore. For many, if Israel wants security, the answer is simple: immediately end the occupation and give justice to the millions of Palestinians forced from their historic homeland to create the Jewish state.
[Joyce Seamann is a member of the Sydney-based Sawiyan — Palestine Solidarity group]
From Green Left Weekly, July 14, 2004.
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