Rights and Accountability 11 June 2012
That 530 square kms of seized Palestinian land – almost 10% of the 1967 occupied territories – is home to 350,000 Palestinians who are trapped between the wall and the 1949 Rhodes Armistice line which some call the “Green Line” or the “1967 boundary.”
Marking ten years since Israel began construction of the wall, Al-Haq has launched a month-long campaign called 10 Years Too Long to urge enforcement of the 2004 International Court of Justice ruling that the wall is illegal and must be torn down.
This brief video launching the campaign reminds us that, “For 10 years, the Wall has cut through Palestinian villages, lands and communities, placing severe restrictions on freedom of movement, access to health and education, trade and livelihood.”
The video provides staggering images of the wall’s devastating impact on Palestinian communities as well as some of the facts I cited.
In addition to this video, the campaign will include four short films “telling the stories of Palestinians whose lives are affected by the Wall” as well as social and traditional media education and advocacy and other resources including Google Earth tours and interactive maps.
Al-Haq will be announcing news about its campaign via its Twitter account: @AlHaq_org.
Comments
Punitive Reparations
Permalink JohnWV replied on
Five million Palestinians are now refugees because of purposeful, malicious and illegal violence of the racist apartheid Jewish state. A pariah among nations. Justice demands that UN and NATO impose resolution just as involuntary, disruptive and humiliating to Israel as Israel has wreaked upon occupied Palestine for generations. The Jewish State must recognize an armed Palestine with externally enforced autonomy, eviction of all settlers, true contiguity encompassing Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem together, neither pinched nor parceled, and pay punitive reparations.
Israel's West Bank Wall
Permalink Gary replied on
UNSC Res. 446: "...the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity..."
UNSC Res. 465: "...all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, or any part thereof, have no legal validity and...Israel's policy and practices of settling parts of its population and new immigrants in those territories constitute a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention..."
The U.S. State Department: "Israel occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights after the 1967 War.... The international community does not recognize Israel's sovereignty over any part of the occupied territories."
In 2004, the International Court of Justice, the only legal body with the authority to decide, unanimously ruled that “no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal.” The Court denoted this principle a “corollary” of the U.N. Charter and as such “customary international law” and a “customary rule” binding on all member States of the United Nations.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague regarding Jewish settlements in the West Bank (5 April 2011): "This is not disputed territory. It is occupied Palestinian territory and ongoing settlement expansion is illegal under international law..."