LAW files more petitions against Israel's apartheid wall
11 September 2002
LAW filed two additional petitions demanding an interm injunction against five Israeli military
orders which allow actual land and property confiscation for the purpose of constructing Israel's
apartheid wall. LAW's attorney Aazem Bishara filed the two petitions at the office of the
Attorney General of the Israeli army.
The first petition was filed on behalf of 20 Palestinians living in Deir al-Ghusoun, Shweika, Tel,
Farasin, Baqa Sharkia and Kafin. Some of the families own the land on which Israel's
apartheid wall will be built, others own land that will be confiscated in the zone between the
'Green Line', the 1967 demarcation line, and the wall.
This petition demands that the Attorney General annuls military orders 17/2002/T, 18/2002/T,
20/2002/T, 21/2002/T and 22/2002T, which were issued by Israel's military commander of the
Westbank, Moshe Kaplinski, which state that the Israeli army will 'seize' (confiscate) these
lands until December 31, 2005. In the case, the demands are rejected, the petition demanded
an alternative line for Israel's apartheid wall, which will not harm any of the lands owned by
Palestinians.
The second petition demands that the Attorney General annuls military order 31/2002/T, which
allows the Israeli army to 'seize' lands owned by Palestinians for the purpose of building Israel's
apartheid wall surrounding the Palestinian town of Qalqiliya. This include agricultural lands
being cultivated by Palestinian farmers.
LAW believes that the destruction and 'requisition' of private property and land for the purpose
of constructing Israel's apartheid wall amounts to a permanent unlawful destruction,
confiscation and annexation of land and property. The Hague Regulations prohibit the
occupying power to undertake permanent changes in the occupied area, unless these are due
to military needs in the narrow sense of the term, or unless they are undertaken for the benefit
of the local population.
The Fourth Geneva Convention states in article 47 that 'protected persons who are in occupied
territory shall not be deprived, in any case or in any manner whatsoever, of the benefits of the
present Convention by any change introduced, as the result of the occupation of a territory, into
the institutions or government of the said territory, nor by any agreement concluded between
the authorities of the occupied territories and the Occupying Power, nor by any annexation by
the latter of the whole or part of the occupied territory.'
International law prohibits the annexation of land, the incorporation of land under a state's
territory by means of conquest or acquisition of territory by force. Moreover, any destruction by
the Occupying Power of real or personal property is prohibited, except where it is 'rendered
absolutely necessary by military operations'.
Israeli sources say that Israel's apartheid wall is being built for 'security purposes', however, the
destruction and confiscation of land effectively punish the entire population, in particular those
whose homes and land have been destroyed and land permanently confiscated. International
humanitarian law prohibits collective penalties.
Israel started preparations for the construction of its apartheid wall on June 16, 2002, near the
village Salem, west of Jenin, towards the north, reaching Tulkarem. Israeli officials have stated
that the wall will be finished by the end of this year. The wall will separate fourteen villages and
isolate them from their agricultural lands. The barrier will be 115 kilometres (70 miles) long, it
will include fences, trenches and security patrols. And this is only the first phase, eventually it is
meant to extend the full 350-km (220 mile) length of the West Bank.
The form of apartheid Israel applies against Palestinians fulfils all elements of the crime of
apartheid as defined under the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of
the Crime of Apartheid (1976), which expressly states that the crime of apartheid 'shall include
similar policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination as practiced in southern
Africa' (art.2).
LAW condemns these flagrant violations of human rights and calls on the international
community to condemn racial segregation and apartheid and undertake to prevent, prohibit
and eradicate all practices of this nature in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. LAW urges
the international community to take effective measures to dismantle Israel's apartheid system,
lift the closure and siege on Palestinian towns and villages and and ensure the freedom of
movement.
