11 years after ICJ’s Decision at The Hague and the Apartheid wall still exists!
The Union of Agricultural Work Committees and a number of human rights organizations, activists and social justice movements called for the immediate international intervention to implement ICJ’s decision in immediately dismantling the Israeli Apartheid Wall and forcing the Israeli Occupation to respect ALL international laws, conventions and agreements. Accordingly, UAWC called to:
· Not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall.
· Not to provide aid or assistance in maintaining the resulted situation.
· Work to remove any burden caused by the Wall’s construction in which prevents the Palestinians from their right to self-determination.
· Boycott all companies/ organizations/ groups who support the building or maintenance of the Apartheid Wall.
On July 9th 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague provided its Advisory Opinion in the case concerning the legal consequences of the construction of the Israeli Apartheid Wall. The court stated that the construction of the Wall contrasts international law, and Israel, the occupying power, is under an obligation to cease immediately the work of construction of the wall, to dismantle immediately the structure therein situated, and to pay reparations to Palestinians. ICJ also stated that states are obliged to act against the wall and the UN should take action. Now 11 years after the ICJ’s decision the Israeli Apartheid Wall still exists and the Israeli occupation continues its violations to the international laws.
In 2002, the Israeli Occupation began construction of the Apartheid Wall in order to separate the West Bank from “Israel.” Relying on facts from the United Nations office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ reports, the Apartheid wall’s total length (constructed and projected) is approximately 712 km, more than twice the length of the 1949 Green Line. Some 85% of the wall’s route runs inside the West Bank, rather than along the Green Line; if completed as planned, the Wall will isolate 9.4% of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Access to agricultural land through the wall is channeled through 74 gates, the majority of which (52) only open during the olive harvest (October-December). According to Stop the Wall campaign, the Wall has destroyed a large amount of Palestinian farmland and usurped water supplies, including the biggest aquifer in the West Bank.
Israel’s violations to a number of international human right resolutions deprive the Palestinians from their basic rights of living such as: right to access, right to land, right to water, and right to food sovereignty. It is the role of the local and international community to stand against the violations and demand the actual implementation of all the international resolutions.
Now is the time for all national and international legal bodies, social movements and activists to intensify their work to implement ICJ’s decision and stop Israeli racist and discriminatory actions against Palestinians. It is time to end Israel’s continued occupation and colonization of Palestine. It is time to stop all of the Israeli occupation’s discriminatory actions against the Palestinians, their land and resources. The Israeli occupation must end; it is our responsibility, as world activists, to revolt against it, and support the Palestinians right to self-determination.