West Bank barrier

The barrier route as of July 2011: 438 km (272 mi) finished, 58 km (36 mi) under construction, 212 km (132 mi) planned
The barrier in Jerusalem, 2007
The barrier between Abu Dis and East Jerusalem, June 2004

The West Bank barrier, West Bank wall or the West Bank separation barrier,[1][2] is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. Israel describes the wall as a necessary security barrier against Palestinian political violence; whereas Palestinians describe it as an element of racial segregation and a representation of Israeli apartheid,[3] who often call it "Wall of Apartheid".[4] At a total length of 708 kilometres (440 mi) upon completion, the route traced by the barrier is more than double the length of the Green Line, with 15% of its length running along the Green Line or inside Israel, and the remaining 85% running as much as 18 kilometres (11 mi) inside the West Bank, effectively isolating about 9% of the land and approximately 25,000 Palestinians from the rest of the Palestinian territory.[5]

The barrier was built by Israel following a wave of Palestinian political violence and incidents of terrorism inside Israel during the Second Intifada, which began in September 2000 and ended in February 2005.[6] The Israeli government cites a decreased number of suicide bombings carried out from the West Bank as evidence of its efficacy, after such attacks fell from 73 between 2000 and July 2003 (the completion of the first continuous segment) to 12 between August 2003 and the end of 2006.[7][8] While the barrier was initially presented as a temporary security measure at a time of heightened tensions, it has since been associated with a future political border between Israel and the State of Palestine.[9]

The barrier has drawn criticism from Palestinians, human rights groups, and members of the international community, who have all argued that it serves as evidence of Israel's intent to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security.[10] It has also been alleged that the construction of the wall aims to undermine the Israeli–Palestinian peace process by unilaterally establishing new de facto borders.[11] Key points of dispute are that it substantially deviates eastward from the Green Line, severely restricts the travel of many Palestinians, and impairs their ability to commute to work within the West Bank[12] or to Israel.[13] The International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion finding that the barrier qualifies as a violation of international law.[14][15] In 2003, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that charged Israel's building of the barrier to be a violation of international law and demanded its removal by a vote of 144–4 with 12 abstentions.[16]

The walled sections of the barrier have become a canvas for graffiti art, with its Palestinian side illustrating opposition to the barrier, Palestinian resistance, their right to return, as well as human rights in general.[1]

  1. ^ a b Leuenberger, Christine (2009-06-10). "PIJ.ORG: The West Bank Wall as Canvas: Art and Graffiti in Palestine/Israel". PIJ.ORG. Retrieved 2022-05-27.
  2. ^ Eidelman, Ronen (2011-01-01). "The Separation Wall in Palestine: Artists Love to Hate It". Cultural Activism. pp. 95–114. doi:10.1163/9789042029828_006. ISBN 978-90-420-2981-1. Retrieved 2022-05-27. The common neutral name is the "separation barrier" and the words fence or wall are used according to the location one is referring to {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  3. ^ Dona J. Stewart, The Middle East Today: Political, Geographical and Cultural Perspectives, Routledge, 2013 p. 223.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference palestinianname was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Barrier Update: Special Focus" (PDF). UN OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs). 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-12.
  6. ^ "Questions and Answers". Israel's Security Fence. The State of Israel. February 22, 2004. Archived from the original on October 3, 2013. Retrieved 2007-04-17. The Security Fence is being built with the sole purpose of saving the lives of the Israeli citizens who continue to be targeted by the terrorist campaign that began in 2000. The fact that over 800 men, women and children have been killed in horrific suicide bombings and other terror attacks clearly justifies the attempt to place a physical barrier in the path of terrorists.
  7. ^ "The Anti-Terrorist Fence vs. Terrorism". Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 2004-01-10. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  8. ^ Nissenbaum, Dion (2007-01-10). "Death toll of Israeli civilians killed by Palestinians hit a low in 2006". Washington Bureau. McClatchy Newspapers. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2007-04-16. Fewer Israeli civilians died in Palestinian attacks in 2006 than in any year since the Palestinian uprising began in 2000. Palestinian militants killed 23 Israelis and foreign visitors in 2006, down from a high of 289 in 2002 during the height of the uprising. Most significant, successful suicide bombings in Israel nearly came to a halt. Last year, only two Palestinian suicide bombers managed to sneak into Israel for attacks that killed 11 people and wounded 30 others. Israel has gone nearly nine months without a suicide bombing inside its borders, the longest period without such an attack since 2000[...] An Israeli military spokeswoman said one major factor in that success had been Israel's controversial separation barrier, a still-growing 400-kilometre (250 mi) network of high-tech fencing, concrete walls and other obstacles that cuts through parts of the West Bank. 'The security fence was put up to stop terror, and that's what it's doing,' said Capt. Noa Meir, a spokeswoman for the Israel Defense Forces. [...] Opponents of the barrier grudgingly acknowledge that it's been effective in stopping bombers, though they complain that its route should have followed the border between Israel and the Palestinian territories known as the Green Line. [...] IDF spokeswoman Meir said Israeli military operations that disrupted militants planning attacks from the West Bank also deserved credit for the drop in Israeli fatalities.
  9. ^ Busbridge, Rachel (2016-06-14). "The wall has feet but so do we: Palestinian workers in Israel and the 'separation' wall". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 44 (3): 373–390. doi:10.1080/13530194.2016.1194187. ISSN 1353-0194. S2CID 148056811.
  10. ^ "Under the Guise of Security: Routing the Separation Barrier to Enable Israeli Settlement Expansion in the West Bank". Publications. B'Tselem. December 2005. Archived from the original on 2007-04-05. Retrieved 2007-04-16. The fact that the Separation Barrier cuts into the West Bank was and remains the main cause of human rights violations of Palestinians living near the Barrier. Israel contends that the Barrier's route is based solely on security considerations. This report disputes that contention and proves that one of the primary reasons for choosing the route of many sections of the Barrier was to place certain areas intended for settlement expansion on the "Israeli" side of the Barrier. In some of the cases, for all intents and purposes the expansion constituted the establishment of a new settlement.
  11. ^ Geraldine Bedell (14 June 2003). "Set in stone". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 2019-09-30. Retrieved 2013-09-17. The Palestinian Authority, meanwhile, preoccupied with the road map and its own internal politics, 'has neglected the wall,' according to Jamal Juma. Yet the wall is crucial to the road map. At the very least, it is an attempt to preempt negotiations with a land grab that establishes new borders (and what the road map calls 'facts on the ground' that must be heeded). Arguably it is more devious: an attempt to undermine negotiations altogether – because what Palestinian Authority could sign up to the fragmented 'state' the wall will create?
  12. ^ Barahona, Ana (2013). Bearing Witness – Eight weeks in Palestine. London: Metete. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-908099-02-0.
  13. ^ Geraldine Bedell (14 June 2003). "Set in stone". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 2019-09-30. Retrieved 2013-09-17. The wall shuts out the world beyond, creating an eerie silence and an absence of landscape. Eventually, it will encircle the town, but already, there is only one gate in and out of Qalquilya. Moving to and from the town is a draining process of waiting in the sunshine while papers are taken away and thought about. You can't take a car from one side to the other. When you finally get through, you have to trudge through a no-man's-land to pick up a bus or taxi. ... Until the start of the current round of violence (the second intifada, in September 2000), 85,000 Israelis and Palestinians used to pour into Qalquilya every week to visit the shops and markets. Goods were cheaper than in Israel. No one comes any more, partly out of fear, partly because it's so hard to get in or out. And now the barrier threatens to cut the town off from 80 per cent of its agricultural land and 19 of its wells.…Before the construction started, half of Qalquilya's income came from agriculture. Now, 4,000 people – 10 per cent of the population – have left. An additional 2,200 heads of household have gone to find work elsewhere, leaving their families behind. ... Unemployment is now 69 per cent. With its bottleneck entrance so often corked, the town is coming close to economic strangulation. More than 600 businesses have closed and many residents have been unable to pay their municipal taxes, with the result that the Qalquilya municipality owes about 3.5 m shekels (£490,000) to the Israeli Electric Company, which is threatening to cut off the city's supply. ... The story of overcrowding and economic peril will be repeated in other Palestinian cities, according to Jamal Juma, co-ordinator of the Palestinian Environmental Network: 'In 10 years, there will be no room to expand. Forced off the land, Palestinians will be clustered into already heavily populated urban areas; with no alternative sources of income, they will be a source of cheap labour for Israeli factories.'
  14. ^ "International Court of Justice finds Israeli barrier in Palestinian territory is illegal Archived 2017-10-06 at the Wayback Machine". UN News Centre. United Nations. 9 July 2004.
  15. ^ "Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory". International Court of Justice. 9 July 2004. Archived from the original on 2 September 2004.
  16. ^ Semple, Kirk (22 October 2003). "U.N. Resolution Condemns Israeli Barrier Archived 2019-09-30 at the Wayback Machine". The New York Times.