What Happened to Your Promises Mr. Sharon?

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0308/S00139.htm

Mr. Sharon has promised over and over that the Apartheid Wall Israel is building “won’t interfere with the daily lives of Palestinians”. He might like to tell that to Helmi, the farmer in Jayyous who woke up yesterday morning to discover a bulldozer in his front yard.

Before he could stop them, they began tearing up a l5-meter (45-foot) swath through his fruit and olive trees. One hundred were destroyed before he stood in front on the bulldozer and made it stop. When he asked for paperwork to see why his property was being destroyed, there was none. No orders, no paperwork, no answers from the operator of the enormous bulldozer devouring his land.

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As President Bush's diplomacy with Israeli and Palestinian leaders continues, so does Israel's construction of the so-called separation wall in the West Bank. The Israeli public views the wall as necessary protection from attacks on civilians by Palestinian militant groups. But is this wall really about security? And what impact will it have on the US-backed "road map" aiming toward resolution of the conflict and a Palestinian state?

Israel began building the wall, which enjoys support across the Israeli political spectrum, in summer 2002. The first section of the wall, currently underway, will be an estimated 225 miles long upon completion. Israel has also proposed constructing a second wall in the east, near the Jordan valley. Consisting of some barbed wire sections, in places the wall is solid concrete, towering 25 feet above the ground.

Once finished, the western portion of the wall alone will be three times as long and twice as high as the Berlin wall. If completed as proposed, the wall will encircle the majority of the Palestinian population in two large blocs, covering around 45 percent of the West Bank's territory. Israel will control entry and exit points.

Despite Israel's security justification, the wall is not being built on, or in most cases, even near, Israel's border with the West Bank. Because the wall is located inside the West Bank, will incorporate most of the Israeli settlement population and leave large areas of the West Bank under Israeli control, many critics believe that the wall has more to do with Israel's territorial ambitions.

http://www.merip.org/newspaper_opeds/oped_cook080503.html