The Apartheid Wall Campaign
A Joint Palestinian Movement of NGOs,
Grassroots Organizations and Concerned Individuals
What is the Apartheid Wall?
Contrary to worldwide news reports, the Wall (also referred to as the “fence” or “security fence”) which Israel is currently building in the northeast of the West Bank, as well as in the Bethlehem and Jerusalem areas, will not mark the 1967 border, also known as the Green Line. Rather, amidst some of the most fertile land in Palestine, this latest unilateral offensive will be a further exercise in Israel’s annexation of lands, destruction of agriculture and property, and violation of human rights. If the Apartheid Wall is to be completed, some 10% of the West Bank will be confiscated!
In the northern West Bank, the first phase of the Apartheid Wall is to be approximately 115km long. Fifteen villages will be trapped between the Wall and the Green Line, while the built-up (residential) areas of at least 15 villages will be east of the Apartheid Wall with a significant portion of their lands on the other side. The city of Qalqiliya, which is the urban center for the entire area, will be completely encircled by the Apartheid Wall. In addition, approximately 30 groundwater wells will be out of bounds, having been separated by the Wall from the villages depending on them, meaning even further Israeli control over Palestinian water resources. Falamya, for example, is to loose its main source of water.
The reference in the international media to a “fence” being placed to separate the “two sides” should be seen more as a cynical, unrepresentative use of terms than any real reflection of the Wall itself, both in its massive physical structure and its implications on the lives of tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of people. The separation rhetoric, which should remind everyone of the Afrikaans word for separation--“Apartheid”--is not a reflection of real geographic or a historic physical divide between two peoples, but rather is reference to Israel’s continued campaign of forcible, unilateral separation and expulsion plans that disregard national or economic sovereignty for Palestinians. The Wall just furthers the “bantustanization” of the West Bank into hundreds of small, dependent entities that cannot sustain themselves and that are more akin to small, disconnected open-air prisons surrounded by Israeli military checkpoints and settlements, than anything else.
About the Campaign
The construction and destruction revolving around the Apartheid Wall is to move full-force in the coming months and the Apartheid Wall could be completed in less than one year. The prospects of a completed wall are horrific, and will translate into the confiscation and annexation of some 10% of the West Bank, the destruction of hundreds of thousands of dunums of farmland including the uprooting of hundreds of thousands of trees, and the tragic “advancement” of the closure and siege policy that will leave thousands of families landless, jobless, hungry, and hopeless. The image of cities and villages encircled by checkpoints, by-pass roads, and settlements is now being accompanied by an 8-meter high concrete wall with trenches, electric fences, sensors, cameras, and armed watchtowers.
The Apartheid Wall Campaign was born out of an October 2, 2002, meeting of the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON) General Assembly, where it was decided that the Network and its members must make the Wall a priority of their work, and stating clearly that successful efforts on behalf of the Wall must be joint and widespread, both in local efforts, and in international advocacy. The Campaign looks to integrate local needs and efforts with information collection and international advocacy.
The Campaign itself sees its aim as two fold: on the one hand, to work and mobilize to stop the Wall and its immediate and expected consequences to environment and human rights; and on the other hand, to shed light on the expanding stranglehold of the Occupation, marked by checkpoints, closures, siege, settlements, and the Wall. The larger context is the underlying motivation behind the Campaign.
The Campaign call is to “Stop the Wall!”
Who is Organizing the Campaign?
The Apartheid Wall Campaign is being organized by the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON) with the support of the following PENGON members: Palestinian Hydrology Group (PHG), Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC), LAW, Land Research Center (LRC), Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC), Applied Research Institute—Jerusalem (ARIJ), and the Society for the Development and Protection of the Environment. These organizations compose of the Campaign Coordinating Committee.
Three subcommittees for the Campaign have been formed, and they are: International Advocacy and Media, Research and Information Collection, and Social Mobilization. They deal with the areas that are the backbone of the Campaign that can ensure an effective effort to stop the wall and support the communities affected by it.
Local councils, farmers unions, and other grassroots organizations have also formally joined the Campaign. In addition, three Emergency Centers for the Campaign have already been established in the Tulkarem, Qalqiliya and Jenin areas where information collection, meetings among the communities and with local and international solidarity groups, projects and social mobilization coordination, and public and legal services take place in relation to the Wall.
The Coordinating Committee members have volunteered staff and other resources to the Campaign, including partial funding of the Emergency Centers. To date, the Campaign is overwhelmingly a volunteer effort.
How You Can Help
The Campaign needs to move quickly! In Palestine, there has been measurable success in outreach and mobilization on behalf of the Campaign. We are looking to push forward the international advocacy and continue the various efforts of the Apartheid Wall Campaign.
There is work and solidarity to be done in the following areas, and we encourage all those interested to stop the Wall to work together:
- Partner Organizations: The Campaign is interested in expanding its support base, and looks to international solidarity groups and movements to support its efforts.
- Information Dissemination: Information is a key in creating greater awareness. The Campaign has produced and will continue to produce material that it hopes will be widely disseminated.
- Volunteers: We are in need of volunteer support, both in people’s home countries and in Palestine. The needs are varied and we encourage those interested to contact us.
- Media: Coverage of the Wall until now has been overwhelmingly superficial, infrequent and misleading in its reflection of what the Wall actually is, what will be done in order for it to be built, and its implications to life and land. Better, more frequent coverage, both in alternative media and in the mainstream media, can support the efforts to stop the Wall.
- Advocacy: Addressing and pressuring the relevant actors and bodies so that they play an important role in stopping the Wall.
*We ask that you join us for a tour in the northern West Bank about the Wall and the Campaign*
How to Contact the Campaign
You can reach the Campaign by contacting PENGON at +972-2-6565890/87, +972-(0)52-285610, fax: +972-2-5857688, outreach@pengon.org or www.pengon.org. For more details about the Apartheid Wall, you can request a copy of Report #1, produced by the Apartheid Wall Campaign, which includes background, details, maps and links about the Apartheid Wall. The report can also be found at www.pengon.org.
We look forward to hearing from you and working together to Stop the Wall!
