Ramallah, June 18, 2009
Dear friends,
there are less than three weeks on the fifth anniversary of the ruling of the International Court of Justice on the dismantling of the Wall. The fact that the construction of the wall continues, in five years by the sentence, impunity is the clearest proof that the international community guarantees to Israel.
On this anniversary, we appeal to supporters of Palestinian rights in the world to renew their efforts to fight against the Apartheid Wall.
How Campaign against the Apartheid Wall and Palestinian Popular Committees Against the Wall and settlements, we are resisting the wall since the beginning of its construction.
Today, people are mobilizing in the weekly protests to defend their land against the wall facing repression growing rapidly by the Israeli army and we ask you to join us against the arrests, injuries and killings of our people.
Five years ago, the International Court of Justice seemed to have strengthened our fight. On July 9, 2004, the Court ruled that:
- the construction of the Wall in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal and that Israel should cease construction, dismantle the sections already built and compensate the damage caused.
- no state would provide aid or assistance in maintaining Wall and its regime and all States Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention are obliged to ensure compliance by Israel with international humanitarian law.
Despite the clarity of this ruling, neither Israel nor the international community have indicated their intention to respect their obligations towards international law. Instead, the Board has simply disappeared from the agenda of international diplomacy, while the destruction continues at issue.
In the first four months of this year, the Israeli army has built more parts of the Wall that the whole of 2008. As a result of this project, the staggering number of 266,422 Palestinians living in the West Bank are surrounded, isolated and with the prospect of deportation.
The United Nations did nothing to make the decision of the International Court of Justice and, with the exception of a few governments, States did not put pressure or sanctions against Israel. The international business continues to fund and provide materials for the construction of the Wall for the colonies. If the administration
Obama and the European governments were serious about their positions on the colonies, first would require compliance with the court ruling, which highlights the illegality of the Wall, settlements and the regime that is associated with. In this way, political leaders could enforce international law and restore the peoples faith in peace and in the future.
left alone to defend their rights and norms of international law, the popular committees continued their protests with the support of human rights defenders around the world. Have slowed the construction of the wall and get refunds of land, but the ultimate goal to bring down the Berlin Wall is still distant. Palestinian villages are still paying a high price for their determination: 16 people, half of them children, have already been killed by Israeli forces during the protests, while hundreds more were injured or arrested.
Entire villages suffer the curfew and closure of the gates of the Wall as collective punishment.
habitual use of plastic bullets against people on their own land is just the latest in a long series of measures that violate our political rights. We ask you to
mobilize with us on the fifth anniversary of the ruling of the International Court of Justice and help protect people's committees, to replace the wall on your agenda, to put pressure on your government and the UN United which to comply with their obligation to implement the ruling of the Court of International Affairs stop profiting from the Israeli crimes.
You can do this:
- organizing events to raise awareness for the July 9
- Contacting your media and asking him to inform on the Wall and on the fight against it
- writing to your encouragement and your MPs and asking them to protest against the repression of the popular committees and undertake to implement the ruling of the International Court of Justice
- Including the Wall in your campaigns and policy initiatives.
Thank you for your support.
Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign