Background
It is no doubt that the Israeli greed in East Jerusalem was put in action only two weeks after the occupation of 1967 when the Israeli government officially declared the annexation of the eastern part and announced it as part of its '' unified eternal capital''.
To do so, about 72 Km2 of Jerusalem lands were attached to Israel excluding whatever possible of densely populated Palestinian clusters. This is clearly apparent in the annexation of parts of less populated areas northward along Jerusalem-Ramallah main road, such as Shu'fat, Beit Hanina, Al- Ram junction, Qalandia and Kufr Aqab. While, the highly populated areas such as Al- Ram, Bir Nabala, Al- Jeeb and Qalandia refugee camp were not part of the annexation plan. See Map
Afterwards, The Israeli acts of confiscation, seizure and the annexation of Palestinian lands inside and out side the old city of Jerusalem continued increasingly. This policy has been supported by a set of Israeli suppressive acts against Palestinians, including: demolition of houses, closure and seizure of homes, denial of building, prevention of any planning or development schemes, denial of any services and proper infrastructure. All the aforementioned measures resulted in the creation of three colonialist rings around the city of Jerusalem and more than 26 colonialist centers within its borders in which about 186 thousands Jewish occupiers have been settled.
New apartheid wall
On August 15th, 2002, an Israeli military order was issued calling for the construction of what was called ''Security Barrier'' north of Jerusalem. This decision was based on the emergency martial law of 1949 whereby, the implementation was given to the Israeli ministry of ''defense'', and real estate department.
The fact that the implementation was given to the Israeli army is a severe violation of the Israeli law itself, since annexed Jerusalem is ruled by civil law. The only logic behind this is to prevent any possibility for objection on Palestinians part under the pretext that the project is being implemented for higher security interest. The actual construction of this wall started on August 22nd, 2002 in the Palestinian village of Rafat north Jerusalem.
This part of the Apartheid Wall spreads on the land of the northern villages of Al- Ram ( Khalet Al- Sheik), Qalandia, Kufr Aqab, Al- Bira ( Rafat Al- Masyon) and Rafat. It is about 8 km long with a width totaling from 40-100 meters. At least 800 dunums of agricultural land will be confiscated to make room for the construction of the wall. See Map
Actual reasons behind Wall construction
The Israeli occupation forces claim that the aim of the construction of the Wall is to stop Palestinian attacks inside Israeli proper. Nevertheless, it has become clear through experience that any barrier separating between a house and its garden, son and father, farmer and land, worker and workplace will inevitably fail because it is against the course of life, and consequently, the security claim behind it is logically baseless.
Therefore, what are the actual reasons behind it?
1. About 15000 Palestinians holding Jerusalem ID will find themselves besieged between the Wall and the current borders of Jerusalem. Those people live in the village and refugee camp of Qalandia and Kufr Aqab. They will find themselves in a state of disorder at the service, security and legal levels. That is, the Jweish municipality of Jerusalem will continue to ask those communities to pay taxes and, in turn, will cease to provide them with any services. Such a situation will push them to flee their living places and live in the West Bank. As a result, the Israeli authorities will then withdraw their Jerusalem IDs and their properties will become under the auspices of the guardain of absentee property as happened to thousands of Jerusalmite Palestinians in the past.
2. The Wall totally encompasses the area of Qalandia airport which, according to Oslo and Cairo accords, was supposed to be handed over to the Palestinian Authority at the final status negotiations. The Israeli measures in this regard have created a new reality on the ground that aims at blocking any chance for peace.
3. The construction of the Wall to the north and east of the Israeli military checkpoint at Qalandia junction means that this checkpoint will become a substitute of Dahiat Al- Barid checkpoint. The same thing is under implementation in the south and east of the city. The checkpoint of Gilo in the south will be removed to Rachel's tomb inside the borders of Bethlehem city and Ras Al- Amud checkpoint in the east will be removed to Abu -Dis junction. By doing so, the Israelis are achieving two goals: The first, expanding the borders of the city of Jerusalem at the expense of Palestinian lands expropriated from the West Bank and, second, limiting the Palestinian built up areas.
4. The construction of the Wall will lead to the confiscating of Palestinian agricultural lands related to north Jerusalem villages. It will also take the only remaining Palestinian built up areas to the south and to the west, especially after encircling the northern and eastern sides of the city with Israeli settlement rings.
5. The wall will isolate Jerusalem from its West Bank surroundings and, consequently, paralyze commercial, industrial and tourist life for Arabs in Jerusalem. In the long run, this situation will force Palestinian citizens of the city to leave.
6. The Wall will prevent Palestinian Muslims and Christians who live in the West Bank from reaching Holy places in the city in full contradiction with the freedom of worship called for by all civilized nations in the world.
7. The Wall spreads to the west out of Jerusalem borders to separate between citizens of the Palestinian village of Rafat and their land in the south and west despite the fact that this village and its lands are located in the West Bank proper.
8. The Wall will annex the municipalities and lands of Qalandia village, Judaira, Bir Nabala and Al- Ram which are currently under the Palestinian rule. This situation will harm people's life who live there because they will find themselves strangled between the Wall and the West Bank Borders without authority on the ground.
Conclusion
It is clear from the Israeli measures mentioned above that the Israeli government does not intend to protect its residents, rather, it is practically working to increase the tension in the area and create more realitites on the ground, making any future negotiable solutions impossible. This is a continued Zionist policy which aims at emptying the Palestinian land of its citizens and replacing them with Israeli settlers under many pretexts of which security is at the top.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
