Pamela Olson (of Fast Times in Palestine) has a fabulous post about the geography of Israel and the West Bank. It’s a primer for anyone who doesn’t understand what Area C is, or Abu Dis, let alone the confiscated wells of Jayyous that are to serve Israelis. Here’s Olson on the path of the wall.
Above is a map of the Wall in East Jerusalem. This picture represents more pain and heartache than I can summarize in a paragraph, but I’ll explain as well as I can. The grey area is Israel (including Israeli West Jerusalem) while the white area is the occupied West Bank. The tan areas are Palestinian cities and villages (Ramallah in the north, Palestinian East Jerusalem in the middle, Bethlehem in the south). The purple areas are Israeli settlements, all built illegally on Palestinian land. Many of these are being expanded and new ones are being built. The red line is the planned route of the Wall.
Notice how the Wall weaves around to isolate as many Palestinian areas as possible from East Jerusalem while seizing as many settlements and as much land as possible. Bethlehem has been particularly devastated. Not only does the Wall surround it and isolate most its land, turning it into a ghetto, the Wall and settlements break the ancient link with its sister holy city Jerusalem. Notice also how many Palestinian communities are separated or cut off from each other — Shu’fat and Shu’fat Refugee Camp, Beit Hanina and Beit Hanina al Balad, East Jerusalem and Abu Dis, and on and on.
Go to Olson’s site to see the stunning pictures of the wall and of Palestinian life that remind us of Jim Crow and the Warsaw Ghetto.
The wall was early described as the presumptious borders of a revised Israel.
I think that is an accurate description of then Kadima and now likud intent.
Its a mistake.
Witty, it’s not merely a mistake. It’s a crime. And it’s a crime against peace far worse than any Hamas rocket.
Amen. Though I admit, I’m surprised Witty even went so far as to call it a ‘mistake.’ I’ve been reading this blog for a while, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him so at a loss for words. I guess there are some things you simply can’t justify.
Thanks, Pamela. This is really important, especially in light of the new construction in Gilo, and the accompanying lies and obfuscation concerning discrimination and ethnic cleansing in Jersualem.
It reminds me of the Berlin Wall more than anything to do with Jim Crow, though its purpose is to keep people out rather than to keep them in. Once again the Israelis show the world that they have more in common with repressive dictatorships than they would like us to think.
The Berlin Wall at least split the city more or less in half. This is more like converting Jerusalem into one big network of exclusive Jewish communities while relegating the “undesirables” to the slums — after stealing their property, of course.
If Israel won’t abide by the rulings of the International Court of Justice regarding the apartheid wall, then Israel has no right to define the terms of its own self-defense. It further has no right to claim any moral objectivity.
Therefore, hollow accusations of anti-Semitism and bias must be ignored and ridiculed for Israel has no credibility left.
Agreed, Nolan. Couldn’t put it better myself.
I really wish there had been more coverage in the news of the Palestinians toppling sections of the wall to commemorate the falling of the Berlin wall. The photo of the guy on the falling wall was so great!
I wrote this piece, and I’ve seen this Wall over and over for myself, and I still can’t begin to imagine it’s real. There are simply no words.
I’m writing a book that explains all this (and much more) in more human terms. The book is unusual in that it talks about how amazing life in the West Bank is aside from the occupation. No one can understand how bad the occupation really is if they don’t know about the life that’s being strangled by it.
link to fasttimesinpalestine.wordpress.com
I’ve just checked out your website.
When is the book coming out? I’d love to read it.
Hopefully in early 2010. I’m thinking of posting a few chapters online as a teaser and also because this info needs to get out there. I’ll definitely be posting excerpts on my blog, so stay tuned.
If you want to be kept up to date, you’re welcome to join the “Fast Times in Palestine” Facebook group (assuming you’re on Facebook, which is an alarmingly good bet these days…)
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I’ve seen the wall, and it isn’t that awesome. It’s just a wall. It was put up to save human life, and it seems to be helping. The wall was a major factor in ending the second intifada, and if the wall were human, it would deserve a Noble Peace Prize.
There’s a wall in Cyprus that serves a similar purpose, and nobody is at a loss for words.
And how many pregnant women does the wall in Cyprus prevent from reaching a hospital in a timely fashion to give birth? Does a yellow license plate get you past the wall as quickly over there, too? Was it also built on other people’s land instead of that owned by the Cyprus government? How big is the “kill zone” anywhere along the Cyprus wall?
I don’t know where the hospitals are in Cyprus, but the Arabs have their own universities and hospitals and it’s not clear why the Israelis should provide medical care to people who are trying to destroy their country, but they do.
There was a great deal of forced movement and confiscation in the re-arrangement of Cyprus, but I don’t know the details.
I don’t think there is a kill zone at the Cyprus wall because terrorists aren’t trying to blow it up, last I heard.
Palestinians are not able to reach their own universities and hospitals because of the walls and the checkpoints, but that’s just fine with Zionists when they die at the checkpoints, being only Arabs whose lives don’t matter.
There is nothing like anothe Zionist poster to put a face on evil.
AreaMan? Yes, “the Arabs” — the rest of us non-racists prefer to address them as Palestinians — have their own universities and hospitals.
The wall seperates many Palestinian communities from them. Quite deliberately. It’s not placed on the Israeli border (as far as the rest of the world acknowledges Israel’s border, anyway) but on Palestinian land, specifically between Palestinian communities (and often, cutting several in half).
You were there? You saw the wall? Really? And how come the Palestinians aren’t allowed to set up “kill zones” to protect themselves from Zionist terrorists, or as you call them, “settlers.”
“it’s not clear why the Israelis should provide medical care to people who are trying to destroy their country”
Because occupiers have no rights, only obligations.
Exactly, potsherd. The wall cuts Palestinians off from their OWN institutions and their OWN people – to the extent that these istitutions have not been destroyed and access to them denied by other Israeli policies. West Bank and Gaza Palestinians have been cut off for years from the menial jobs the colonizers forced them to take (by confiscting their land and destroying their local economies) and from the institutions they have paid for with their taxes.
… with their taxes and with the prosperity created through the exploitation of their labour and resources.
The only lives it was put up to save are Jewish lives, regardless of the cost in Palestinian lives.
Maybe Obama can pin his own peace prize on the wall. He has done as much good.
Actually, more Arabs were dying in the intifada than since. Without terrorist attacks, there is no need for big Israeli military operations in the West Bank. The number of Arabs lived saved is probably larger than the number of Israelis saved.
And why shouldn’t Jews save their own lives?
I think that was Hitler’s logic too, wasn’t it? And why shouldn’t the reinrassig save their own lives?
Why do Jews steal Arab land? Why do Jews colonize Arab land?
And in case you decide to read Cliff wrong, I’m pretty sure he’s referring specifically to Zionist European Jews.
Terrorist attacks are occurring daily – the ‘price tagging’ policy, for instance.
That’s the rather large problem with the Israeli claims regarding the illegal wall. If they’re not lying about its purpose it should be equally as effective at protecting Palestinians.
It was not put up to save human life but, ostensibly, to save Jewish life, at the expense of Palestinian life and livelihood. Even assuming that the wall itself has saved Jewish lives (by no means certain), a similar effect could have been achieved by other means or, at the very least, by following another route, that would have been far less devastating for Palestinians. The government totally disregarded the basic rights of Palestinians in erecting the wall, which – even in its altered route (imposed by the Israeli High Court, but never fully implemented) – has resulted in a de facto annexation to Israel of 9% of the West Bank (B’tselem).
Were the Israeli government truly concerned with safeguarding even Jewish life, it would not have pursued its longstanding settlement policies, which place many Israeli Jews in direct and imminent danger, just to name the most blatant example of Israel’s disregard for the lives of its own citizens.
Beyond de facto annexation, the separation wall would appear to have been little more than an “easy” populistic measure – like periodic massacres in Lebanon and Gaza – adopted for the sake of political gain. In the eyes of Israeli leaders, the loss of Jewish life is a small price to pay for political success. The loss of Palestinian life is just a “slight thump on the side of the aircraft,” to quote former IAF Commander Dan Halutz.