Israeli Wall as a Weapon

It is a virtual reflex for governments to plead security concerns when 
they undertake any controversial action, often as a pretext for 
something else.

Israel's so-called security fence, which is the subject of hearings 
starting today at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, is a 
case in point.

Jack Straw, has written that the wall is "unlawful."

Another ministry official, who inspected the "security fence," said it 
should be on the Green Line or "indeed on the Israeli side of the line."

condemning the barrier as part of a "deliberate" Israeli "strategy of 
bringing the population to heel."

Israel's war of "politicide" against the Palestinians — helping turn 
Palestinian communities into dungeons, next to which the bantustans of 
South Africa look like symbols of freedom, sovereignty and 
self-determination.

the United Nations estimated that Israeli barriers, infrastructure 
projects and settlements had created 50 disconnected Palestinian pockets 
in the West Bank. As the design of the wall was coming into view, the 
World Bank estimated that it might isolate 250,000 to 300,000 
Palestinians, more than 10 percent of the population, and that it might 
effectively annex up to 10 percent of West Bank land.

the wall would cut the West Bank into 16 isolated enclaves, confined to 
just 42 percent of the West Bank land that Mr. Sharon had previously 
said could be ceded to a Palestinian state.

The wall has already claimed some of the most fertile lands of the West 
Bank. And, crucially, it extends Israel's control of critical water 
resources, which Israel and its settlers can appropriate as they choose, 
while the indigenous population often lacks water for drinking.

It also seems likely that Israel will transfer to the occupied West Bank 
the 7,500 settlers it said this month it would remove from the Gaza 
Strip. These Israelis now enjoy ample land and fresh water, while one 
million Palestinians barely survive, their meager water supplies 
virtually unusable. Gaza is a cage, and as the city of Rafah in the 
south is systematically demolished, residents may be blocked from any 
contact with Egypt and blockaded from the sea.

They are American-Israeli policies — made possible by unremitting United 
States military, economic and diplomatic support of Israel. This has 
been true since 1971 when, with American support, Israel rejected a full 
peace offer from Egypt, preferring expansion to security

The two-state proposal has the support of a majority of Americans today, 
and could be enacted immediately if Washington wanted to do so.
+++


A Wall as a Weapon
by Noam Chomsky

Published on Monday, February 23, 2004 by the New York Times
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0223-02.htm

It is a virtual reflex for governments to plead security concerns when 
they undertake any controversial action, often as a pretext for 
something else. Careful scrutiny is always in order. Israel's so-called 
security fence, which is the subject of hearings starting today at the 
International Court of Justice in The Hague, is a case in point.

Few would question Israel's right to protect its citizens from terrorist 
attacks like the one yesterday, even to build a security wall if that 
were an appropriate means. It is also clear where such a wall would be 
built if security were the guiding concern: inside Israel, within the 
internationally recognized border, the Green Line established after the 
1948-49 war. The wall could then be as forbidding as the authorities 
chose: patrolled by the army on both sides, heavily mined, impenetrable. 
Such a wall would maximize security, and there would be no international 
protest or violation of international law.

This observation is well understood. While Britain supports America's 
opposition to the Hague hearings, its foreign minister, Jack Straw, has 
written that the wall is "unlawful." Another ministry official, who 
inspected the "security fence," said it should be on the Green Line or 
"indeed on the Israeli side of the line." A British parliamentary 
investigative commission also called for the wall to be built on Israeli 
land, condemning the barrier as part of a "deliberate" Israeli "strategy 
of bringing the population to heel."

What this wall is really doing is taking Palestinian lands. It is also — 
as the Israeli sociologist Baruch Kimmerling has described Israel's war 
of "politicide" against the Palestinians — helping turn Palestinian 
communities into dungeons, next to which the bantustans of South Africa 
look like symbols of freedom, sovereignty and self-determination.

Even before construction of the barrier was under way, the United 
Nations estimated that Israeli barriers, infrastructure projects and 
settlements had created 50 disconnected Palestinian pockets in the West 
Bank. As the design of the wall was coming into view, the World Bank 
estimated that it might isolate 250,000 to 300,000 Palestinians, more 
than 10 percent of the population, and that it might effectively annex 
up to 10 percent of West Bank land. And when the government of Ariel 
Sharon finally published its proposed map, it became clear the the wall 
would cut the West Bank into 16 isolated enclaves, confined to just 42 
percent of the West Bank land that Mr. Sharon had previously said could 
be ceded to a Palestinian state.

The wall has already claimed some of the most fertile lands of the West 
Bank. And, crucially, it extends Israel's control of critical water 
resources, which Israel and its settlers can appropriate as they choose, 
while the indigenous population often lacks water for drinking.

Palestinians in the seam between the wall and the Green Line will be 
permitted to apply for the right to live in their own homes; Israelis 
automatically have the right to use these lands. "Hiding behind security 
rationales and the seemingly neutral bureaucratic language of military 
orders is the gateway for expulsion," the Israeli journalist Amira Hass 
wrote in the daily Haaretz. "Drop by drop, unseen, not so many that it 
would be noticed internationally and shock public opinion." The same is 
true of the regular killings, terror and daily brutality and humiliation 
of the past 35 years of harsh occupation, while land and resources have 
been taken for settlers enticed by ample subsidies.

It also seems likely that Israel will transfer to the occupied West Bank 
the 7,500 settlers it said this month it would remove from the Gaza 
Strip. These Israelis now enjoy ample land and fresh water, while one 
million Palestinians barely survive, their meager water supplies 
virtually unusable. Gaza is a cage, and as the city of Rafah in the 
south is systematically demolished, residents may be blocked from any 
contact with Egypt and blockaded from the sea.

It is misleading to call these Israeli policies. They are 
American-Israeli policies — made possible by unremitting United States 
military, economic and diplomatic support of Israel. This has been true 
since 1971 when, with American support, Israel rejected a full peace 
offer from Egypt, preferring expansion to security. In 1976, the United 
States vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for a two-state 
settlement in accord with an overwhelming international consensus. The 
two-state proposal has the support of a majority of Americans today, and 
could be enacted immediately if Washington wanted to do so.

At most, the Hague hearings will end in an advisory ruling that the wall 
is illegal. It will change nothing. Any real chance for a political 
settlement — and for decent lives for the people of the region — depends 
on the United States.

Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, is the author of "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for 
Global Dominance."


"[C]apital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and 
dirt."
--Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Chapter 31

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