Putting Up The Barriers -- The Israeli Wall

The "wall" is a barrier whose basic premise is to protect Israel from suicide bombers and terrorism. The wall is 723 kilometres long and is a breach of Israel's international law obligations. At least 87% of the wall is built inside the green line (the agreed border between Israel and Palestine) this means that the wall is built on Palestinian territory and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) handed down an Advisory Opinion that clearly stated that Israel was in breach of international law.

The ICJ included in this decision a non-binding order that would require Israel to dismantle the parts of the wall that is built on Palestinian territory. However, Israel has ignored the order and continues construction on the parts of the wall yet to be completed. The wall has so far cost the Israeli's some USD 4.1 billion.

Israel undoubtedly has a right to defend itself against terrorism and to defend itself against suicide bombers. It does not have a right though to do this by building the wall on the territory of Palestine, at least under international law. The wall, once completed, will occupy and isolate more than 9% of the West Bank from the Palestinians while protecting some 420,000 Jewish settlers living in the West Bank.

The wall divides towns such as Ar Ram and Abu Dis meaning that once where people were freely able to travel between various points in these towns to Jerusalem can no longer do so. This has had severe impact on not only travel but business and the ability for people to work.

Yasser Arafat chose Abu Dis as the capital city of Palestine for its proximity to Jerusalem. However, most of Abu Dis is now behind the wall. Simply, it has been annexed.

The United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Human Affairs has issued a report that calls the impact of the wall "devastating" to Palestinian villages, towns, and cities by isolating communities and separating these communities from services, land, and livelihoods.

The Report goes on to say that, "The barrier compounds the fragmentation of the West Bank by creating non-contiguous enclaves of Palestinian communities and territory, which are isolated from each other and from the remainder of the West Bank."

Furthermore, "Movement and access for Palestinians is controlled by permits and gates, or channelled through 'fabric of life' routes, that is, secondary roads, tunnels and underpasses created or upgraded by the Israeli authorities to restore transportation contiguity between disconnected Palestinian localities. These physical and bureaucratic measures add to the closure regime of checkpoints and roadblocks, preventing and delaying Palestinians from accessing essential services and workplaces."

It must be noted that there is little public support within Israel to see the wall come down. It would seem that the Israelis are hedging their bets, if there is not going to be any resolution to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict in the foreseeable future then the best bet is to makes sure that the two sides are separated and that its citizens are protected.

Going forward it is clear that the order from the ICJ is non-binding and as such there is no incentive for Israel to comply. Furthermore, there has been no mention of trying to force Israel's hand by threatening sanctions or the like.

Nevertheless, life goes on for both the Israelis and the Palestinians in spite of the barrier between them.

Israel and Hezbollah -- Prisoner Swap

This prisoner swap might not be one for the ages but it is an interesting step for both Israel and Hezbollah to be taking at this point in time. The UN-brokered deal calls for Israel to release prisoners, chief among them, Sami Kuntar, in exchange for two captured Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who have been presumed killed after their capture in 2006.

The deal is not a done deal as it still requires Lebanon to be forthcoming with information relating to an Israeli airman, Ron Arad, who was shot down over Lebanon in 1986. Lebanon has indicated that it is willing to do this but as yet has not released a final report as promised.

Kuntar is a killer. He might be a hero to Hezbollah, but to just about everyone else he is a cold-blooded killer. He shot and killed an Israeli man in front of his four-year old daughter and then smashed the young girls head against a rock with the butt of his rifle and then tossed her body into the sea.

I do not care if you feel you are fighting a war of liberation or freedom or whatever, there is simply no justification for killing children. This was not collateral damage, but rather a pre-meditated attack in response to the signing of an Israeli - Egyptian Peace Accord at Camp David in 1978. This signing probably cost Anwar el-Sadat his life as well several years later in 1981.

Kuntar at the time was working on the orders of the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF). The PLF tried to secure Kuntar's release in 1985 and orchestrated the hijacking of the Italian Cruise ship the Achille Lauro. The PLF were unsuccessful in this attempt. It seems where the PLF has failed Hezbollah may have succeeded.

Interestingly, the Hezbollah leadership are playing up the idea that the two Israeli soldiers might still be alive by labeling the Israeli attempts to formalize the status of the soldiers as "killed in action", speculative. If these two soldiers are not alive then this is plain and simple, cruel.

Perhaps the release of Kuntar and other prisoners is worth it to the families of the two soldiers that are to be released and to the Israeli people. I wonder how the family of Kuntar's victims feel about the pending release.