By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
HEBRON, West Bank – On October 29, nearly 300 Palestinians living on the Israeli side of the separation barrier were handed eviction orders by Israeli soldiers. Soldiers broke up the encampment and told the 27 families to move to Idhna village, located on the other side of the barrier. No comment is available from Israeli authorities.
The separation barrier, approved by the Israeli government in 2002, is a combination of concrete wall, barbed wire, and fencing separating Israel from the West Bank. Israel maintains that the purpose of the barrier is security; to prevent bombers from entering Israel. Israel began building the separation barrier in 2002 and has completed 56% of the planned route. Of the 260 km remaining, 100 km are currently being disputed in Israeli court and 160 km are still in the planning phase.
Some Israelis, Palestinians, and the international community condemn the barrier as contrary to international law and causing serious humanitarian crises. Their argument rests on the fact that the barrier is not built on the “Green Line” – the internationally recognized border between Israel and the West Bank – but rather “snakes” into Palestinian lands in the West Bank. The route creates niches of Palestinians villages surrounded by the barrier, limiting the resident’s access to the West Bank and more importantly, their farmland.
According to the Ministry of Defense, as of March 2007, there were 39 petitions concerning the separation barrier waiting to be heard by Israel’s Supreme Court; 28 of them involved objections to the planned route. In September 2007, the court ordered Israel to re-route the barrier in the Bilin area. The three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the planned route was “highly prejudicial” against the villagers and ordered that an alternative route be mapped out.
The Israeli Supreme Court held that the villagers were being discriminated against by having their land seized and their olives trees cut down for construction. While Bilin residents celebrate, the Israeli Supreme Court has rejected petitions in the past, holding that Israel’s security interests outweigh the negative impacts on Palestinians when no alternative route exists. However, in 2004, the International Court of Justice held that building the barrier along the planned route is contrary to international law and construction of the wall on occupied territory should be suspended.
For more information, please see:
Jerusalem Post – Fence section completion since July: 0 – 31 October 2007
AFP – Israel evicts Palestinians on “wrong” side of barrier – 29 October 2007
AFP – Court orders Israel to re-route barrier – 4 September 2007
Ministry of Defense – Status report – legal aspects of the Security Fence – 1 March 2007
International Court of Justice – Advisory Opinion – 9 July 2004
