Holy Land or Living Hell? Ecocide in Palestine

From the Jordan River valley and Dead Sea basin, through the central highlands comprising the West Bank's populated core, to the fertile western hills bordering Israel, recent reports from occupied Palestine reveal a worsening environmental crisis. <!--break--> <span><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><font size="5" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Holy Land or Living Hell?</font> <p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><font size="4">Pollution, Apartheid and Protest in Occupied Palestine</font></p> <p style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><font size="2" face="Palatino">By Ethan Ganor / Published in Earth First! Journal, September/October 2005</font></p></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><font size="2" face="Palatino" style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">From the Jordan River valley and Dead Sea basin, through the central highlands comprising the West Bank's populated core, to the fertile western hills bordering <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="https://israel.indymedia.org/" target="_blank">Israel</a>, recent reports from <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Palestinian_territories" target="_blank"> occupied Palestine</a> reveal a worsening environmental crisis. A labyrinth of settlements, industrial zones, dumps, military camps, fortified roads, electrified fences and a massive concrete wall—all of it installed by Israel in the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank" target="_blank">West Bank</a> since <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War#External_Links" target="_blank"> 1967</a> and intensified since <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Intifada" target="_blank">2000</a>—is draining the life from this ancient land.</font></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">&nbsp;</span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><font size="2"><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1114-11.htm" target="_blank">Destructive actions</a> by settlers and soldiers, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/reports/details.asp?name=4861" target="_blank">waste</a> from factories and settlements, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=40" target="_blank">land confiscations</a> to expand settlements and roads, the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.btselem.org/English/Water/Index.asp" target="_blank"> plunder of water</a>, the mass <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.american.edu/ted/ice/olive-tree.htm" target="_blank">uprooting</a> or <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/974.shtml" target="_blank"> burning</a> of trees, and the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.world-crisis.com/analysis_comments/476_0_15_0_C36/" target="_blank">snaking</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.americantaskforce.org/lagerquist.htm" target="_blank"> sunset-eclipsing</a> structure known to Palestinians as the &quot;<a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.stopthewall.org/" target="_blank">Apartheid Wall</a>&quot; are the major impacts of colonialism causing the West Bank's <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.wildlife-pal.org/Biodiversity.htm" target="_blank">once-lush ecology</a> to deteriorate. The cumulative impact on the land's <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.phg.org/" target="_blank">hydrology</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.lrcj.org/Soil&Env/Publications/LAND_DEGRADATION_IN_PALESTINE.htm" target="_blank"> topsoil</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arij.org/pub/The%20Issue%20of%20Biodiversity%20in%20Palestine.pdf" target="_blank"> biodiversity</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.madre.org/articles/me/hungerinpalestine.html" target="_blank">food security</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.vtjp.org/action/photosofthewestbank.htm" target="_blank"> natural beauty</a> is severe. No longer recognizable as a &quot;Holy Land&quot; bountifully &quot;<a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.jerusalemites.org/articles/press/press1/12.htm" target="_blank">flowing with milk and honey</a>,&quot; as inscribed in religious texts and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.helga.com/collections/palestine/info.html" target="_blank">memories</a>, Palestine's environment has become a <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=2293" target="_blank">weapo<span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">n of war</span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">, </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);" onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.newsline.com.pk/newsAug2004/bookaug1.htm" target="_blank"> deliberately designed</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> to turn its inhabitants' lives into a </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);" onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palestinemonitor.org/settlements/settler_terror_turns_lives.htm" target="_blank">living hell</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">.</span></font></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">Israel's much-touted &quot;</span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/379.shtml" target="_blank">disengagement</a>&quot; from the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip" target="_blank">Gaza Strip</a>, while proof that decolonization -- <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=8564" target="_blank"> incomplete as it is</a> -- is not impossible, is also a <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/08/19/the-smokescreen-of-the-gaza-disengagement/" target="_blank">smokescreen</a>, distracting attention from its <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4135.shtml" target="_blank"> escalation of violence</a> against people and nature in the West Bank. Fully chronicling the current devastation in Palestine could fill several volumes; what follows are only snapshots. (<font size="2"><span style="font-style: italic;">Click on the hyperlinks for more information</span></font>.)</font></p></span></div><font size="2" face="Palatino"><font size="4"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Poisoning the Land</span></font></font><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);">&nbsp;</span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">In late March, shepherds from <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.cpt.org/hebron/documents/Tuwani_media_packet.htm" target="_blank">Tuwani</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3971.shtml" target="_blank"> Mufakara</a>, Palestinian villages near <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.antiwar.com/hacohen/h021903.html" target="_blank">Hebron</a> in the southern West Bank, discovered strange, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.annainthemiddleeast.com/photos/environment/tawani/940/" target="_blank"> blue pellets</a> littering their <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.annainthemiddleeast.com/photos/environment/tawani/934/" target="_blank">grazing fields</a>. Suspecting these seeds as a possible cause of the mysterious <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3971.shtml" target="_blank">deaths</a> of goats and sheep during the previous week, villagers had them analyzed. The tests confirmed their hunch: The pellets were barley laced with <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.flouridealert.com/pesticides/epage.fluoroacetamine.htm" target="_blank">fluoroacetamide</a>, a rodenticide produced only in Israel and illegal in many other countries due to its acute toxicity.</font></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">Not just livestock, but also wild gazelles, migratory birds, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.annainthemiddleeast.com/photos/environment/tawani/933/" target="_blank">snakes</a> and other animals were poisoned. </font><font size="2">Palestinian farmers were forced to quarantine their flocks and stop selling or using their milk, cheese and meat. On April 8, a new poison—pink pellets tainted by <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/SPEC/pick-finalblox1.htm" target="_blank">brodifacoum</a>, another highly toxic, anti-coagulant rodenticide—</font><font size="2"> was found at a </font><font size="2"> hillside grazing area near Tuwani. Later that month, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE150272005?open&of=ENG-ISR" target="_blank">Amnesty International issued a press release</a> condemning Israeli authorities for failing to clean up the toxic chemicals from affected areas and bring the perpetrators to justice.</font></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">Local Palestinians blame Israeli settlers from nearby <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0929-04.htm" target="_blank">Maon</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.cpt.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=at_tuwani" target="_blank"> Havat Maon</a>, two small outposts south of Hebron, whose male members are notorious for <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=9962" target="_blank">assaulting Tuwani children</a> who are walking past the settlements to school. On April 1, solidarity activists videotaped one Maon security official <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=1850" target="_blank">admitting</a> that he knew that Havat Maon settlers had planted the poisons. </font></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">Despite this, no arrests were made, and the crime has spread. In mid-April in <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.iwps.info/en/articles/article.php?id=128" target="_blank">Yasouf</a>, a Palestinian village south of Nablus in the northern West Bank, large amounts of identical <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.annainthemiddleeast.com/photos/villages/yasouf/1016/" target="_blank">pink pellets</a>—wheat seeds boiled in brodifacoum— <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0504/S00242.htm" target="_blank">were found.</a></font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Palatino"><font size="4" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Industrial Pollution and Dumps</span></font></font></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="3"><font size="2">While such poisonings may seem to be isolated attacks by rogue settlers, other forms of pollution in the West Bank are systemic and permanent. The landscape is <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.pnic.gov.ps/english/Environment/Environment_Israeli%20Violations.html" target="_blank">blotched with Israeli factories</a>. Based mainly on hilltops at Israeli settlements and border-area industrial zones, the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.settlementproducts.org/" target="_blank">factories manufacture products</a> ranging from aluminum, plastic, rubber, fiberglass and cement to batteries, detergents, pesticides, textile dyes, leather tans and military items. </font></font></p></span> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">Because Israel's own generally stringent environmental laws regulating industrial processes and waste discharge are <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palestinemonitor.org/nueva_web/updates_news/news/pollution_politics.htm" target="_blank">not enforced inside the Occupied Territories </a>, the West Bank has become a sacrifice zone. Many of the factories have <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arij.org/paleye/jew-ind/" target="_blank">no environmental safeguards</a> and unleash solid waste burned in free air, wastewater that flows into watersheds, or hazardous waste dumped and buried at outdoor sites. Lands near the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arij.org/paleye/jew-ind/images/burqaril.jpg" target="_blank"> foothills of industrial zones</a> are especially vulnerable. One of the largest zones, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.annainthemiddleeast.com/photos/environment/789/" target="_blank">Barqan</a>, near Nablus, encompasses 80 factories and generates 810,000 cubic meters of wastewater per year. It flows into a <span style="font-style: italic;">wadi</span> (a watercourse that is dry except during the rainy season) and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=637" target="_blank">pollutes the agricultural lands</a> of three Palestinian villages.<i>&nbsp;</i></font></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">&nbsp;</font><font size="2">On July 5, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/oh2005" target="_blank"> International Solidarity Movement </a> activists joined Palestinians to <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/07/05/tulkarem-choked-by-israels-illegal-chemical-fumes/" target="_blank">demonstrate against Geshuri Industries </a>, an Israeli-owned manufacturer of pesticides and fertilizers. Originally located in the town Kfar Saba in Israel—until citizens obtained a court order shutting it down for pollution violations—Geshuri moved to its <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://freckle.blogs.com/photos/no_more_poison/0.html" target="_blank">current site</a> at the edge of the Palestinian town <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=475" target="_blank"> Tulkarem</a> in 1987. <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/819.shtml" target="_blank"> Pollution from the plant</a> has damaged citrus trees, tarnished soil and groundwater, provoked respiratory ailments among neighboring residents, and contributed to Tulkarem having Palestine's highest cancer rates. This Spring, a new wall (which itself annexed vast swaths of agricultural land) was constructed around the complex. Wearing <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://freckle.blogs.com/photos/no_more_poison/7.html" target="_blank">blue surgical masks</a> to avoid inhaling factory fumes, the protesters <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://freckle.blogs.com/photos/no_more_poison/3.html" target="_blank">held signs</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://freckle.blogs.com/photos/no_more_poison/9.html" target="_blank"> painted messages on the wall</a>: &quot;Remove the death factory,&quot;&quot;Get your poison away from our children&quot; and &quot;This is terror!&quot;</font></p> <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> <p><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">Illegal dumps are another chronic problem. On April 11, more than </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ainfos.ca/05/apr/ainfos00192.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">200 people</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> from </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.infoshop.org/wiki/index.php/Anarchists_Against_the_Wall" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">Anarchists Against the Wall</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">, </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.greenaction.org.il/english/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> Green Action Israel</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> and the Palestinian village of </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.dump28apr28,0,6941288.story?coll=chi-news-hed" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> Deir Sharaf</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">&nbsp;</span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=292" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">blocked Israeli garbage trucks</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> from </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3789.shtml" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> transporting trash</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> onto the grounds of</span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3789.shtml" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> Abu Shusha</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">, the West Bank's largest quarry. In 2002, during its brutal &quot;</span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/200.shtml" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">Operation Defensive Shield</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">&quot; invasion, the Israeli army </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://envirosagainstwar.org/know/read.php?itemid=2641" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">seized this site</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> from its Palestinian owners. Since then, </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/photos/907.shtml" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> hundreds of tons of waste</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> were moved covertly into the quarry, in close proximity to </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=548" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> four wells</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> and only 250 yards from the </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=7108&CategoryId=3" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">aquifer</a> that provides Nablus with half of its drinking water. </font></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><font size="2">An investigation by the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.phg.org/index1.html" target="_blank">Palestinian Hydrology Group</a> confirmed that runoff from the dump &quot;has killed medicinal and wild plants in the valley. It has affected the biodiversity and aesthetics of the area. Most importantly, the land is no longer fit to grow olive trees.&quot;</font></p></span> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">After three years of silence, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/VBOL-6B8HH5?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR" target="_blank">international outrage</a> finally erupted in early April, when an Israeli journalist <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.fromoccupiedpalestine.org/node.php?id=1512" target="_blank">exposed the scheme</a>. With tacit government approval but no official permit, settlers were <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=1617" target="_blank">churning profits</a> from the dump by selling their trash-transport services to Israeli cities. Environmental justice scored a rare victory in July, when an Israeli court passed an <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.iued.org.il/text_item.aspx?tid=373&menu=19" target="_blank">injunction </a> shutting down the dump. Yet the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/photos/907.shtml" target="_blank">reservoir of refuse</a> remains, and dozens of other dumps throughout the West Bank are still in operation. Nor has a <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/photos/907.shtml" target="_blank">factory above the quarry</a> been shut down, which pumps streams of foul-smelling black sludge into olive groves below.</font></p> <span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"> <p><font size="3" face="Palatino"><font size="4"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Sustainable Apartheid?</span></font> </font></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><font size="2">While Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's right-wing government and extremist Israeli settlers are the immediate agents of this ecocide, a global system that benefits from and sustains the Occupation is also culpable. The United States supplies the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=3326&CategoryId=4" target="_blank">military firepower</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.wrmea.com/html/us_aid_to_israel.htm" target="_blank"> financial aid</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=398" target="_blank">diplomatic muscle</a> that makes it possible; <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/downloads/pdf/WoWCaterpillarReport.pdf" target="_blank">Caterpillar</a> provides bulldozers that <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.catdestroyshomes.org/" target="_blank"> raze homes</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3449.shtml" target="_blank">trees</a><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3449.shtml" target="_blank"> and fields</a> to build the Wall; and financial institutions like the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/wbimf/" target="_blank">World Bank</a> bestow essential economic lubricants.</font></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><font size="2">In 2004, the World Bank published <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22stagnation+or+revival%3F+israeli+disengagement+and+palestinian+economic+prospects%22+OR+%22disengagement,+the+palestinian+economy+and+the+settlements%22+AND+%22world+bank%22+AND+%22apartheid%22&spell=1" target="_blank"> two reports</a> outlining a sick version of <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/enginefileuploads/world_bank_fact_sheet.pdf" target="_blank">&quot;sustainable&quot;development </a> for Palestine, which <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/analysisandfeatures/921.shtml" target="_blank">accepts the reality</a> of the Wall rather than its <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/384.shtml" target="_blank"> illegality</a>. As the Wall carves its path through the West Bank, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=549" target="_blank">isolating communities</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.vtjp.org/background/wallreport3.htm" target="_blank"> annexing cropland</a>, the </font><span><span><font size="2"> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2003/1103mair.html" target="_blank">livelihood</a></font></span> </span><font size="2"> of tens of thousands of Palestinian families is <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2003/1103mair.html" target="_blank"> destroyed</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=3712" target="_blank">unemployment becomes epidemic</a>. In line with Israeli objectives, the World Bank proposes to solve this artificial problem by establishing new &quot;<a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://mondediplo.com/2004/06/05thewall" target="_blank">industrial estates</a>&quot; alongside the wall where cheap <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.laborforpalestine.org/pages/3/index.htm" target="_blank"> Palestinian labor</a>, working for one-fourth Israel's minimum wage, will be exploited to produce goods for export into the globalized economy.</font></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><font size="2">Already, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palestinemonitor.org/new_web/estatealongwall.htm" target="_blank">one such estate</a> is under construction near Tulkarem, on Palestinian land that has been annexed behind the wall. In addition, Israel has <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.antiwar.com/ips/mekay.php?articleid=4952" target="_blank">asked for funds </a> -- and the World Bank has conditionally <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palestinemonitor.org/new_web/world_bank_concerns.htm" target="_blank"> agreed to grant them</a> -- to create a more &quot;secure,&quot; &quot;efficient&quot; and &quot;growth-oriented&quot; apartheid. Supplementing the Wall, the finished grid will include upgraded, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050813/wl_nm/mideast_crossings_dc;_ylt=Anvr_mjcNViILvLVEkCpK8.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-" target="_blank"> high-tech </a><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050813/wl_nm/mideast_crossings_dc;_ylt=Anvr_mjcNViILvLVEkCpK8.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-" target="_blank"> checkpoints</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.vtjp.org/background/Separation_Wall_Report.htm" target="_blank"> watchtowers</a>, border crossings with radioactive &quot;<a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ramallahonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2150" target="_blank">naked spy</a>&quot; machines that peer through people's clothing, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2992.shtml" target="_blank">segregated roads</a>, and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://peacepalestine.blogspot.com/2004/12/sixteen-tunnels-and-whaddaya-get.html" target="_blank"> underground tunnels</a> to facilitate full <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/analysisandfeatures/843.shtml" target="_blank">Israeli control over Palestinian travel</a> and a continuing monopoly on the land's natural resources. Under the apartheid regime, travel between any of the West Bank's eight population districts—Jenin, Nablus, Qalqilia, Tulkarem, Jericho, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron—has been <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.detnews.com/2002/nation/0205/25/nation-499002.htm" target="_blank">barred</a><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.detnews.com/2002/nation/0205/25/nation-499002.htm" target="_blank"> without special permission</a>, and East Jerusalem will be <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.btselem.org/English/Separation_Barrier/Jerusalem.asp" target="_blank">completely </a><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.btselem.org/English/Separation_Barrier/Jerusalem.asp" target="_blank">cut off</a> by the Wall. Rather than end this <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arij.org/paleye/Segregation-Wall/" target="_blank">matrix of <span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">segregation</span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> and </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=4059" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> dispossession</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">, the World Bank wants Israel to &quot;ease internal closures and restore the predictable flow of goods across borders.&quot; </span></font></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><font size="2" face="Palatino" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">This normalization of apartheid not only shreds the basic human rights of</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">Palestinians by confining them to </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=7903" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ghettos</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> and sweatshops, it also perpetuates the ecological devastation of the land. True sustainability can be based only upon the </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/ipresscom/ipress2004/ipresscom2004-28_mwp_20040709.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">July 9, 2004, decision</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> by the </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Court_of_Justice" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> International Court of Justice</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> (ICJ) requiring Israel to </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.vtjp.org/background/wallreport9.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">tear down the Wall</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> and compensate Palestinians for damages caused by it. The decision mandates the international community &quot;not to recognize the illegal situation created by the construction of the wall, and not to render any aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by it.&quot;</span></font></p></span></span><font size="3" face="Palatino"><font size="4" style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-weight: bold;">Grassroots Resistance to the Wall</font></font><span><span><p style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><span lang="EN-GB"></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2"><font size="2">With international powers <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" ="function (event) { function (event) { function (event) { function (event) { function (event) { function (event) { function (event) { function (event) { function (event) { function (event) { function (event) { function (event) { function (event) { function (event) { return ShowLinkWarning(); } } } } } } } } } } } } } }" href="http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:c0nfJtByGdYJ:www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/jul05/ar2.pdf+%22the+missing+element+of+the+icj+advisory+opinion%22&hl=en" target="_blank"> unwilling to enforce</a> both the ICJ ruling and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.jatonyc.org/UNresolutions.html" target="_blank">United Nations resolutions calling for an end to occupation</a>, Palestinian communities are mobilizing to defend their lands from annexation and destruction. Since September 2002, after Israel began building the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk/Issues/issues_delegation_6.html" target="_blank">Wall's first ring to enclose</a> the then-wealthy <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.riqa.info/aboutqalqilya.htm" target="_blank">agricultural town</a> of <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1724.shtml" target="_blank"> Qalqilya</a>, the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.pengon.org/" target="_blank"> Palestinian Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations Network</a> has coordinated the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/news/thecampaign.shtml" target="_blank">Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign</a> (AAWC). AAWC is rooted in nonviolent <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.wikiverse.org/direct-action" target="_blank">direct action</a>, organized by Popular Committees Against the Wall in dozens of communities that are directly threatened by the Wall's path.</font></font></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2"><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/wecandoit.html" target="_blank">Budrus</a> is a small village of 1,300 people, located 20 miles west of Ramallah, where <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.aljazeerah.info/News%20archives/2005%20News%20Archives/April%202005%20News/20%20n/Budrus%20Resistance%20of%20the%20Apartheid%20Wall.htm" target="_blank"> two years of fierce resistance</a> have yielded the first case of a community <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://mideastcurrent.com/archives/meruarchives/200403/20040319_a6.htm" target="_blank">successfully blocking</a> erection of the</font><font size="2"> Wall on <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ccmep.org/2004_articles/palestine/030104_where_will_the_wall_be_built_in.htm" target="_blank">their land</a>. <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3117.shtml" target="_blank">Mass rallies</a> united the whole town, as everyone from <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://at.indymedia.org/newswire/display/35894/index.php" target="_blank"> toddlers to elders converged</a> in <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/237.shtml" target="_blank">targeted fields and olive groves</a>, swarming construction crews with <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2924.shtml" target="_blank">peaceful</a> discipline and raising enough <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?m=/n/pictures/2004/12/07/nowall5.jpg&f=/gate/archive/2004/12/07/dip.DTL" target="_blank"> ruckus</a> to prompt Israel's High Court to <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.fromoccupiedpalestine.org/node.php?id=1335" target="_blank">alter the wall's route</a>, reducing the amount of land expropriated from Budrus from 300 to 15 acres. In March, after Israeli forces stormed a local wedding, opened fire and arrested a teenager, villagers <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3685.shtml" target="_blank">spontaneously tore down</a> 1,000 feet of a barbed-wire fence erected in lieu of the Wall. Yet the cost has been high: Hundreds of village residents have been <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3117.shtml" target="_blank">wounded </a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0401/S00044.htm" target="_blank"> detained</a>, and at least one boy was <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ccmep.org/2004_articles/palestine/042104_perla.htm" target="_blank">shot dead</a>, by Israeli army <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3629.shtml" target="_blank"> retaliation</a> against the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0216-11.htm" target="_blank">nonviolent struggle</a>.</font></p></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><span> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">Current resistance is most active in <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/category/bilin/" target="_blank">Bil'in</a>, a village of 1,600 also near Ramallah, where <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2256" target="_blank">weekly demonstrations</a> since February have opposed Israeli plans to <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.fromoccupiedpalestine.org/node.php?id=1574" target="_blank">annex 60 percent</a> of the community's 1,000 acres via the Wall. With support from <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ww4report.com/node/1060" target="_blank">international and Israeli solidarity activists</a>, villagers have been employing <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.earthfirstjournal.org/" target="_blank">Earth First!</a>-style tactics. On May 4, protesters <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=4290" target="_blank">chained themselves to olive trees</a> to obstruct the razing of an orchard situated in the Wall's path. On June 1, they <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://freckle.blogs.com/photos/bilin_fence_action/index.html" target="_blank">locked themselves to a mock fence</a> in front of bulldozers, forcing soldiers to symbolically <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3898.shtml" target="_blank">dismantle the fence</a> before they could remove the activists. On July 20, seven protesters <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.archive.org/details/bilin20" target="_blank">chained themselves inside</a> a <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://freckle.blogs.com/photos/strength_in_unity/index.html" target="_blank"> six-feet-long metal cylinder</a> placed in the path of the bulldozers. These actions and other <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palestinemonitor.org/nueva_web/articles/eyewitness/creative_resistance.htm" target="_blank">creative visual stunts</a> have generated extensive <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.redress.btinternet.co.uk/uavnery119.htm" target="_blank">media attention</a> but also a <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palestinemonitor.org/nueva_web/articles/features/bilin_restraint.htm" target="_blank">brutal military crackdown</a>. <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/09/11/dignitaries-witness-israeli-military-brutality-in-bilin/" target="_blank"> Tear gas</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/910.shtml" target="_blank">rubber-coated metal bullets</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3814.shtml" target="_blank">live bullets</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3984.shtml" target="_blank"> shock grenades</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0509/S00166.htm" target="_blank"> curfews</a> and a new device called &quot;<a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=70496" target="_blank">the Scream</a>&quot;—a huge loudspeaker that emits painful sound waves—are commonly used to <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/09/09/israel-represses-non-violent-protest-in-occupied-west-bank/" target="_blank"> prevent</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.yairgil.com/bilin-050506/" target="_blank"> disperse</a> the demonstrations, which have not yet halted the Wall's construction. </font></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">About one-third of the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.btselem.org/Download/Separation_Barrier_Map_Eng.pdf" target="_blank">planned 420-mile Wall</a> is finished; 80 percent of it <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3430.shtml" target="_blank">penetrates into the West Bank</a>. Construction is occurring now in the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.btselem.org/english/Separation_Barrier/Jerusalem.asp" target="_blank">Jerusalem</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/maps/857.shtml" target="_blank"> Bethlehem</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=643" target="_blank"> Hebron</a> regions, as well as around the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/08/11/the-ariel-finger-and-its-impacts/" target="_blank">Ariel bloc</a> of settlements deep inside the northern West Bank. If completed there and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4161.shtml" target="_blank">along the Jordan Valley</a>, around 46 percent of the West Bank stands to be annexed. More than 400,000 <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.sabellaphoto.com/olives1.htm" target="_blank">olive trees</a>, which comprise 40 percent of Palestine's <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.grassrootsonline.org/weblog/palag.html" target="_blank">cultivated land</a> and are the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/08/11/the-ariel-finger-and-its-impacts/" target="_blank"> staple crop</a> of rural communities, are estimated to have been <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=5325&CategoryId=11" target="_blank">uprooted</a> during the last five years.</font></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">This Fall promises to be another season of intense <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.afsc.org/israel-palestine/learn/nonviolence-and-the-olive-harvest.htm" target="_blank">grassroots resistance</a>. Palestine's annual <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3301.shtml" target="_blank"> olive harvest </a> peaks in October and November, and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2005/08/322090.html" target="_blank">international activists will once again be present</a> to challenge <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://fromoccupiedpalestine.org/node.php?id=1456" target="_blank">Israeli settler</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.labournet.net/world/0310/pal1.html" target="_blank"> army</a> actions that <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1221/p09s02-coop.html" target="_blank"> deny Palestinians access to their land</a> and the<a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.eappi.org/eappi.nsf/index/rep-ja-05022309.html" target="_blank"> right to harvest their crops</a>.</font></p> <p><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">For more information about the 2005 olive harvest in Palestine, contact the </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);" onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/" target="_blank">International Solidarity Movement</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">.</span> </font></p></span></span><font size="2" face="Palatino" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><span style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">To learn more about the nonviolent resistance against apartheid of Palestinian communities, visit </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.stopthewall.org/" target="_blank" style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">www.stopthewall.org</a></font><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><span></span>Ethan is an anti-Zionist, eco-anarchist Jew, a graduate from the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel and the founder of the Trees Not Walls Network. He owes a debt to forests for providing refuge to his grandfather for two years in Eastern Europe during the Holocaust. Contact him at </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 153, 51);" onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://us.f329.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=treesnotwalls@riseup.net.." target="_blank">treesnotwalls@riseup.net</a></div>

<p>From the Jordan River valley and Dead Sea basin, through the central highlands comprising the West Bank's populated core, to the fertile western hills bordering Israel, recent reports from occupied Palestine reveal a worsening environmental crisis.</p> <!--break--><p><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><font size="5" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Holy Land or Living Hell?</font></span></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"><font size="4">Pollution, Apartheid and Protest in Occupied Palestine</font></p> <p style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><font size="2" face="Palatino">By Ethan Ganor / Published in Earth First! Journal, September/October 2005</font></p> <p><br /> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"><font size="2" face="Palatino" style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">From<br /> the Jordan River valley and Dead Sea basin, through the central highlands<br /> comprising the West Bank's populated core, to the fertile western hills<br /> bordering <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="https://israel.indymedia.org/" target="_blank">Israel</a>, recent reports from <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Palestinian_territories" target="_blank"> <p>occupied Palestine</p></a> reveal a worsening<br /> environmental crisis. A labyrinth of settlements, industrial zones,<br /> dumps, military camps, fortified roads, electrified fences and a massive<br /> concrete wall—all of it installed by Israel in the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank" target="_blank">West Bank</a> since <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War#External_Links" target="_blank"> <p>1967</p></a><br /> and intensified since <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Intifada" target="_blank">2000</a>—is draining the life from this ancient land.</font></div> <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> </span><br /> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><br /> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><font size="2"><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1114-11.htm" target="_blank">Destructive<br /> actions</a> by settlers and soldiers, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/reports/details.asp?name=4861" target="_blank">waste</a> from factories and settlements,<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=40" target="_blank">land confiscations</a> to expand settlements and roads, the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.btselem.org/English/Water/Index.asp" target="_blank"></a></font></p> <p>plunder of water,<br /> the mass <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.american.edu/ted/ice/olive-tree.htm" target="_blank">uprooting</a> or <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/974.shtml" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>burning of trees, and the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.world-crisis.com/analysis_comments/476_0_15_0_C36/" target="_blank">snaking</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.americantaskforce.org/lagerquist.htm" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>sunset-eclipsing<br /> structure known to Palestinians as the "<a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.stopthewall.org/" target="_blank">Apartheid Wall</a>" are the major impacts of colonialism causing<br /> the West Bank's <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.wildlife-pal.org/Biodiversity.htm" target="_blank">once-lush ecology</a> to deteriorate. The cumulative impact<br /> on the land's <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.phg.org/" target="_blank">hydrology</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.lrcj.org/Soil&amp;Env/Publications/LAND_DEGRADATION_IN_PALESTINE.htm" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>topsoil, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arij.org/pub/The%20Issue%20of%20Biodiversity%20in%20Palestine.pdf" target="_blank"><br /> biodiversity</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.madre.org/articles/me/hungerinpalestine.html" target="_blank">food security</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.vtjp.org/action/photosofthewestbank.htm" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>natural<br /> beauty is severe. No longer recognizable as a "Holy Land" bountifully<br /> "<a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.jerusalemites.org/articles/press/press1/12.htm" target="_blank">flowing with milk and honey</a>," as inscribed in religious texts and<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.helga.com/collections/palestine/info.html" target="_blank">memories</a>,<br /> Palestine's environment has become a <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=2293" target="_blank">weapo<span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">n of war</span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">, </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);" onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.newsline.com.pk/newsAug2004/bookaug1.htm" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>deliberately designed<span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><br /> to turn its inhabitants' lives into a </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);" onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palestinemonitor.org/settlements/settler_terror_turns_lives.htm" target="_blank">living hell</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">.</span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">Israel's much-touted "</span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/379.shtml" target="_blank">disengagement</a>"<br /> from the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip" target="_blank">Gaza Strip</a>, while proof that decolonization -- <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&amp;ItemID=8564" target="_blank"><br /> incomplete as it is</a> -- is not impossible, is also a<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/08/19/the-smokescreen-of-the-gaza-disengagement/" target="_blank">smokescreen</a>, distracting attention from its <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4135.shtml" target="_blank"></a></font></p> <p>escalation of<br /> violence against people and nature in the West Bank. Fully chronicling the current devastation in<br /> Palestine could fill several volumes; what follows are only snapshots. (<font size="2"><span style="font-style: italic;">Click on the hyperlinks for more information</span></font>.)</p> <p></p></span></div> <p><font size="2" face="Palatino"><font size="4"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Poisoning<br /> the Land</span></font></font><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"> </span></span><br /> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><br /> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">In<br /> late March, shepherds from <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.cpt.org/hebron/documents/Tuwani_media_packet.htm" target="_blank">Tuwani</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3971.shtml" target="_blank"></a></font></p> <p>Mufakara, Palestinian villages<br /> near <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.antiwar.com/hacohen/h021903.html" target="_blank">Hebron</a> in the southern West Bank, discovered strange, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.annainthemiddleeast.com/photos/environment/tawani/940/" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>blue pellets</p> <p>littering their <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.annainthemiddleeast.com/photos/environment/tawani/934/" target="_blank">grazing fields</a>. Suspecting these seeds as a possible<br /> cause of the mysterious <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3971.shtml" target="_blank">deaths</a> of goats and sheep during the<br /> previous week, villagers had them analyzed. The tests confirmed their<br /> hunch: The pellets were barley laced with <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.flouridealert.com/pesticides/epage.fluoroacetamine.htm" target="_blank">fluoroacetamide</a>, a rodenticide<br /> produced only in Israel and illegal in many other countries due to its<br /> acute toxicity.</p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">Not<br /> just livestock, but also wild gazelles, migratory birds, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.annainthemiddleeast.com/photos/environment/tawani/933/" target="_blank">snakes</a> and<br /> other animals were poisoned. </font><font size="2">Palestinian<br /> farmers were forced to quarantine their flocks and stop selling or using<br /> their milk, cheese and meat. On April 8, a new poison—pink pellets tainted<br /> by <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/SPEC/pick-finalblox1.htm" target="_blank">brodifacoum</a>, another highly toxic, anti-coagulant rodenticide—</font><font size="2"></font></p> <p>was found at a <font size="2"><br /> hillside<br /> grazing area near Tuwani. Later that month, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE150272005?open&amp;of=ENG-ISR" target="_blank">Amnesty International issued<br /> a press release</a> condemning Israeli authorities for failing to clean<br /> up the toxic chemicals from affected areas and bring the perpetrators<br /> to justice.</font></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">Local<br /> Palestinians blame Israeli settlers from nearby <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0929-04.htm" target="_blank">Maon</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.cpt.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=at_tuwani" target="_blank"></a></font></p> <p>Havat Maon,<br /> two small outposts south of Hebron, whose male members are notorious<br /> for <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&amp;categ_id=2&amp;article_id=9962" target="_blank">assaulting Tuwani children</a> who are walking past the settlements<br /> to school. On April 1, solidarity activists videotaped one Maon security official<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=1850" target="_blank">admitting</a> that he knew that Havat Maon settlers had planted the poisons. </p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">Despite<br /> this, no arrests were made, and the crime has spread. In mid-April in<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.iwps.info/en/articles/article.php?id=128" target="_blank">Yasouf</a>, a Palestinian village south of Nablus in the northern West Bank,<br /> large amounts of identical <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.annainthemiddleeast.com/photos/villages/yasouf/1016/" target="_blank">pink pellets</a>—wheat seeds boiled in brodifacoum—<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0504/S00242.htm" target="_blank">were<br /> found.</a></font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Palatino"><font size="4" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Industrial<br /> Pollution and Dumps</span></font></font></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="3"><font size="2">While<br /> such poisonings may seem to be isolated attacks by rogue settlers, other<br /> forms of pollution in the West Bank are systemic and permanent. The<br /> landscape is <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.pnic.gov.ps/english/Environment/Environment_Israeli%20Violations.html" target="_blank">blotched with Israeli factories</a>. Based mainly on hilltops<br /> at Israeli settlements and border-area industrial zones, the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.settlementproducts.org/" target="_blank">factories<br /> manufacture products</a> ranging from aluminum, plastic, rubber, fiberglass<br /> and cement to batteries, detergents, pesticides, textile dyes, leather<br /> tans and military items. </font></font></p> <p></p></span> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">Because<br /> Israel's own generally stringent environmental laws regulating industrial<br /> processes and waste discharge are <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palestinemonitor.org/nueva_web/updates_news/news/pollution_politics.htm" target="_blank">not enforced inside the Occupied Territories<br /> </a>,<br /> the West Bank has become a sacrifice zone. Many of the factories<br /> have <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arij.org/paleye/jew-ind/" target="_blank">no environmental safeguards</a> and unleash solid waste burned in free<br /> air, wastewater that flows into watersheds, or hazardous waste dumped and buried at outdoor sites. Lands near the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arij.org/paleye/jew-ind/images/burqaril.jpg" target="_blank"></a></font></p> <p>foothills of industrial zones<br /> are especially vulnerable. One of the largest zones, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.annainthemiddleeast.com/photos/environment/789/" target="_blank">Barqan</a>, near Nablus,<br /> encompasses 80 factories and generates 810,000 cubic meters of wastewater<br /> per year. It flows into a <span style="font-style: italic;">wadi</span> (a watercourse that is dry except<br /> during the rainy season) and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=637" target="_blank">pollutes the agricultural lands</a> of three<br /> Palestinian villages.<i> </i></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2"> </font><font size="2">On July 5, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/oh2005" target="_blank"></a></font></p> <p>International Solidarity Movement<br /> <br /> activists joined Palestinians to <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/07/05/tulkarem-choked-by-israels-illegal-chemical-fumes/" target="_blank">demonstrate against Geshuri Industries<br /> </a>,<br /> an Israeli-owned manufacturer of pesticides and fertilizers. Originally<br /> located in the town Kfar Saba in Israel—until citizens obtained a court<br /> order shutting it down for pollution violations—Geshuri moved to its<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://freckle.blogs.com/photos/no_more_poison/0.html" target="_blank">current site</a> at the edge of the Palestinian town <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=475" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>Tulkarem in 1987. <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/819.shtml" target="_blank"><br /> Pollution<br /> from the plant</a> has damaged citrus trees, tarnished soil and groundwater,<br /> provoked respiratory ailments among neighboring residents, and contributed<br /> to Tulkarem having Palestine's highest cancer rates. This Spring, a </p> <p>new wall (which itself annexed vast swaths of agricultural land) was<br /> constructed around the complex. Wearing <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://freckle.blogs.com/photos/no_more_poison/7.html" target="_blank">blue surgical masks</a> to avoid<br /> inhaling factory fumes, the protesters <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://freckle.blogs.com/photos/no_more_poison/3.html" target="_blank">held signs</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://freckle.blogs.com/photos/no_more_poison/9.html" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>painted messages<br /> on the wall: "Remove the death factory,""Get your poison away from our<br /> children" and "This is terror!"</p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"></span></p> <p><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">Illegal<br /> dumps are another chronic problem. On April 11, more than </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ainfos.ca/05/apr/ainfos00192.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">200 people</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><br /> from </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.infoshop.org/wiki/index.php/Anarchists_Against_the_Wall" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">Anarchists Against the Wall</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">, </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.greenaction.org.il/english/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"></a></font></p> <p>Green Action Israel<span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> and the Palestinian village of </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.dump28apr28,0,6941288.story?coll=chi-news-hed" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"></a></p> <p>Deir Sharaf<span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=292" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">blocked Israeli garbage trucks</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> from </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3789.shtml" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"></a></p> <p>transporting trash<span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> onto the grounds of</span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3789.shtml" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> Abu Shusha</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">, the West Bank's largest quarry.<br /> In 2002, during its brutal "</span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/200.shtml" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">Operation Defensive Shield</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">" invasion, the Israeli army<br /> </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://envirosagainstwar.org/know/read.php?itemid=2641" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">seized this site</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> from its Palestinian owners. Since then, </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/photos/907.shtml" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"></a></p> <p>hundreds<br /> of tons of waste<span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> were moved covertly into the quarry, in close proximity to </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=548" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"></a></p> <p>four wells<span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> and only 250 yards from the </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=7108&amp;CategoryId=3" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">aquifer</a> that provides Nablus with half of its drinking water.<br /> </p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><font size="2">An<br /> investigation by the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.phg.org/index1.html" target="_blank">Palestinian Hydrology Group</a> confirmed that runoff<br /> from the dump "has killed medicinal and wild plants in the valley. It<br /> has affected the biodiversity and aesthetics of the area. Most importantly,<br /> the land is no longer fit to grow olive trees."</font></p> <p></p></span> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">After three years of silence,<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/VBOL-6B8HH5?OpenDocument&amp;rc=3&amp;emid=ACOS-635PFR" target="_blank">international outrage</a> finally erupted in early April, when an Israeli journalist<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.fromoccupiedpalestine.org/node.php?id=1512" target="_blank">exposed the scheme</a>. With tacit government approval but no<br /> official permit, settlers were <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=1617" target="_blank">churning profits</a> from the dump by<br /> selling their trash-transport services to Israeli cities. Environmental<br /> justice scored a rare victory in July, when an Israeli court passed an <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.iued.org.il/text_item.aspx?tid=373&amp;menu=19" target="_blank">injunction<br /> </a> shutting down the dump. Yet the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/photos/907.shtml" target="_blank">reservoir of refuse</a> remains,<br /> and dozens of other dumps throughout the West Bank are still in operation.<br /> Nor has a <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/photos/907.shtml" target="_blank">factory above the quarry</a> been shut down, which pumps streams<br /> of foul-smelling black sludge into olive groves below.</font></p> <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"></span></p> <p><font size="3" face="Palatino"><font size="4"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Sustainable<br /> Apartheid?</span></font> </font></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><font size="2">While<br /> Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's right-wing government and extremist<br /> Israeli settlers are the immediate agents of this ecocide, a global<br /> system that benefits from and sustains the Occupation is also culpable.<br /> The United States supplies the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=3326&amp;CategoryId=4" target="_blank">military firepower</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.wrmea.com/html/us_aid_to_israel.htm" target="_blank"></a></font></p> <p>financial aid and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=398" target="_blank">diplomatic muscle</a> that makes<br /> it possible; <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/downloads/pdf/WoWCaterpillarReport.pdf" target="_blank">Caterpillar</a> provides bulldozers that <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.catdestroyshomes.org/" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>raze homes, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3449.shtml" target="_blank">trees</a><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3449.shtml" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>and fields to build the Wall; and financial institutions like the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/wbimf/" target="_blank">World<br /> Bank</a> bestow essential economic lubricants.</p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><font size="2">In<br /> 2004, the World Bank published <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;q=%22stagnation+or+revival%3F+israeli+disengagement+and+palestinian+economic+prospects%22+OR+%22disengagement,+the+palestinian+economy+and+the+settlements%22+AND+%22world+bank%22+AND+%22apartheid%22&amp;spell=1" target="_blank"></a></font></p> <p>two reports outlining a sick version of <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/enginefileuploads/world_bank_fact_sheet.pdf" target="_blank">"sustainable"development<br /> </a> for Palestine, which <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/analysisandfeatures/921.shtml" target="_blank">accepts the reality</a> of the Wall rather than its <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/384.shtml" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>illegality. As the Wall carves its path<br /> through the West Bank, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=549" target="_blank">isolating communities</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.vtjp.org/background/wallreport3.htm" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>annexing cropland,<br /> the <span><span><font size="2"> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2003/1103mair.html" target="_blank">livelihood</a></font></span></span></p> <p><font size="2"> of tens of thousands of Palestinian families is <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2003/1103mair.html" target="_blank"></a></font></p> <p>destroyed<br /> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&amp;art=3712" target="_blank">unemployment becomes epidemic</a>. In line with Israeli objectives,<br /> the World Bank proposes to solve this artificial problem by establishing<br /> new "<a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://mondediplo.com/2004/06/05thewall" target="_blank">industrial estates</a>" alongside the wall where cheap <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.laborforpalestine.org/pages/3/index.htm" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>Palestinian<br /> labor, working for one-fourth Israel's minimum wage, will be exploited<br /> to produce goods for export into the globalized economy.</p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><font size="2">Already,<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palestinemonitor.org/new_web/estatealongwall.htm" target="_blank">one such estate</a> is under construction near Tulkarem,<br /> on Palestinian land that has been annexed behind the wall. In addition, Israel has <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.antiwar.com/ips/mekay.php?articleid=4952" target="_blank">asked for funds<br /> </a> -- and the World Bank has conditionally <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palestinemonitor.org/new_web/world_bank_concerns.htm" target="_blank"></a></font></p> <p>agreed to grant them -- to create a more "secure," "efficient" and<br /> "growth-oriented" apartheid. Supplementing the Wall, the finished grid will include upgraded, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050813/wl_nm/mideast_crossings_dc;_ylt=Anvr_mjcNViILvLVEkCpK8.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>high-tech <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050813/wl_nm/mideast_crossings_dc;_ylt=Anvr_mjcNViILvLVEkCpK8.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>checkpoints, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.vtjp.org/background/Separation_Wall_Report.htm" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>watchtowers, border crossings with radioactive<br /> "<a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ramallahonline.com/modules.php?name=News&amp;file=article&amp;sid=2150" target="_blank">naked spy</a>" machines that peer through people's clothing,<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2992.shtml" target="_blank">segregated roads</a>, and<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://peacepalestine.blogspot.com/2004/12/sixteen-tunnels-and-whaddaya-get.html" target="_blank"><br /> underground<br /> tunnels</a><br /> to facilitate full <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/analysisandfeatures/843.shtml" target="_blank">Israeli control over Palestinian travel</a> and a<br /> continuing monopoly on the land's natural resources. Under the<br /> apartheid regime, travel between any of the West Bank's eight<br /> population districts—Jenin, Nablus, Qalqilia, Tulkarem, Jericho,<br /> Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron—has been <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.detnews.com/2002/nation/0205/25/nation-499002.htm" target="_blank">barred</a><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.detnews.com/2002/nation/0205/25/nation-499002.htm" target="_blank"></a></p> <p> without special permission, and East Jerusalem will be <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.btselem.org/English/Separation_Barrier/Jerusalem.asp" target="_blank">completely<br /> </a><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.btselem.org/English/Separation_Barrier/Jerusalem.asp" target="_blank">cut off</a><br /> by the Wall. Rather than end this<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arij.org/paleye/Segregation-Wall/" target="_blank">matrix of <span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">segregation</span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> and </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&amp;ItemID=4059" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><br /> dispossession</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">, the World Bank wants Israel to<br /> "ease internal closures and restore the predictable flow of<br /> goods across borders." </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><font size="2" face="Palatino" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">This<br /> normalization of apartheid not only shreds the basic human rights of</span><br /> <span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">Palestinians by confining them to </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=7903" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ghettos</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> and sweatshops, it also perpetuates<br /> the ecological devastation of the land. True sustainability can be based<br /> only upon the </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/ipresscom/ipress2004/ipresscom2004-28_mwp_20040709.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">July 9, 2004, decision</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> by the </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Court_of_Justice" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></a></font></p> <p>International Court of Justice<span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"> (ICJ) requiring Israel to </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.vtjp.org/background/wallreport9.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">tear down the Wall</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);"><br /> and compensate Palestinians for damages caused by it. The decision<br /> mandates the international community "not to recognize the illegal<br /> situation created by the construction of the wall, and not to render<br /> any aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by it."</span></p> <p><font size="3" face="Palatino"><font size="4" style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-weight: bold;">Grassroots<br /> Resistance to the Wall</font></font><span><span><br /> <p style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><span lang="EN-GB" xml:lang="EN-GB"></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2"><font size="2">With<br /> international powers <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"> <p> function (event) {</p> <p> function (event) {</p> <p> function (event) {</p> <p> function (event) {</p> <p> function (event) {</p> <p> function (event) {</p> <p> function (event) {</p> <p> function (event) {</p> <p> function (event) {</p> <p> function (event) {</p> <p> function (event) {</p> <p> function (event) {</p> <p> function (event) {<br /> return ShowLinkWarning();<br /> }</p> <p> }</p> <p> }</p> <p> }</p> <p> }</p> <p> }</p> <p> }</p> <p> }</p> <p> }</p> <p> }</p> <p> }</p> <p> }</p> <p> }</p> <p>}" href="http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:c0nfJtByGdYJ:www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/jul05/ar2.pdf+%22the+missing+element+of+the+icj+advisory+opinion%22&amp;hl=en" target="_blank"&gt;</p> <p>unwilling to enforce</p></a> both the ICJ ruling and<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.jatonyc.org/UNresolutions.html" target="_blank">United<br /> Nations resolutions calling for an end to occupation</a>, Palestinian communities<br /> are mobilizing to defend their lands from annexation and destruction.<br /> Since September 2002, after Israel began building the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk/Issues/issues_delegation_6.html" target="_blank">Wall's first ring<br /> to enclose</a> the then-wealthy <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.riqa.info/aboutqalqilya.htm" target="_blank">agricultural town</a> of <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1724.shtml" target="_blank"></a></font></font></p> <p>Qalqilya, the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.pengon.org/" target="_blank"><br /> Palestinian<br /> Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations Network</a> has coordinated<br /> the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/news/thecampaign.shtml" target="_blank">Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign</a> (AAWC). AAWC is rooted in<br /> nonviolent <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.wikiverse.org/direct-action" target="_blank">direct action</a>, organized by Popular Committees Against the<br /> Wall in dozens of communities that are directly threatened by the Wall's<br /> path.</p> <p style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2"><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/wecandoit.html" target="_blank">Budrus</a><br /> is a small village of 1,300 people, located 20 miles west of Ramallah,<br /> where <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.aljazeerah.info/News%20archives/2005%20News%20Archives/April%202005%20News/20%20n/Budrus%20Resistance%20of%20the%20Apartheid%20Wall.htm" target="_blank"></a></font></p> <p>two years of fierce resistance have yielded the first case of<br /> a community <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://mideastcurrent.com/archives/meruarchives/200403/20040319_a6.htm" target="_blank">successfully blocking</a> erection of the<font size="2"> Wall on <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ccmep.org/2004_articles/palestine/030104_where_will_the_wall_be_built_in.htm" target="_blank">their land</a>.<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3117.shtml" target="_blank">Mass rallies</a> united the whole town, as everyone from <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://at.indymedia.org/newswire/display/35894/index.php" target="_blank"></a></font></p> <p>toddlers to elders<br /> converged in <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/237.shtml" target="_blank">targeted fields and olive groves</a>, swarming construction<br /> crews with <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2924.shtml" target="_blank">peaceful</a> discipline and raising enough <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?m=/n/pictures/2004/12/07/nowall5.jpg&amp;f=/gate/archive/2004/12/07/dip.DTL" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>ruckus to prompt Israel's High Court to <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.fromoccupiedpalestine.org/node.php?id=1335" target="_blank">alter the wall's route</a>, reducing the amount of land expropriated from Budrus from 300 to 15 acres. In March, after Israeli forces<br /> stormed a local wedding, opened fire and arrested a teenager, villagers<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3685.shtml" target="_blank">spontaneously tore down</a> 1,000 feet of a barbed-wire fence erected in<br /> lieu of the Wall. Yet the cost has been high: Hundreds of village residents have been <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3117.shtml" target="_blank">wounded<br /> </a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0401/S00044.htm" target="_blank"><br /> detained</a>, and at least one boy was <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ccmep.org/2004_articles/palestine/042104_perla.htm" target="_blank">shot dead</a>, by Israeli army <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3629.shtml" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>retaliation against the<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0216-11.htm" target="_blank">nonviolent struggle</a>.</p> <p></p></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><span></span></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">Current<br /> resistance is most active in <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/category/bilin/" target="_blank">Bil'in</a>, a village of 1,600 also near Ramallah,<br /> where <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2256" target="_blank">weekly demonstrations</a> since February have opposed Israeli<br /> plans to <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.fromoccupiedpalestine.org/node.php?id=1574" target="_blank">annex 60 percent</a> of the community's 1,000 acres via the Wall.<br /> With support from <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ww4report.com/node/1060" target="_blank">international and Israeli solidarity activists</a>, villagers<br /> have been employing <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.earthfirstjournal.org/" target="_blank">Earth First!</a>-style tactics. On May 4, protesters<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=4290" target="_blank">chained themselves to olive trees</a> to obstruct the razing of an orchard<br /> situated in the Wall's path. On June 1, they <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://freckle.blogs.com/photos/bilin_fence_action/index.html" target="_blank">locked themselves to<br /> a mock fence</a> in front of bulldozers, forcing soldiers to symbolically<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3898.shtml" target="_blank">dismantle the fence</a> before they could remove the activists. On July 20, seven protesters<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.archive.org/details/bilin20" target="_blank">chained themselves inside</a> a <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://freckle.blogs.com/photos/strength_in_unity/index.html" target="_blank"></a></font></p> <p>six-feet-long metal cylinder placed in the path of the bulldozers. These actions<br /> and other <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palestinemonitor.org/nueva_web/articles/eyewitness/creative_resistance.htm" target="_blank">creative visual stunts</a> have generated extensive<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.redress.btinternet.co.uk/uavnery119.htm" target="_blank">media attention</a><br /> but also a <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palestinemonitor.org/nueva_web/articles/features/bilin_restraint.htm" target="_blank">brutal military crackdown</a>. <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/09/11/dignitaries-witness-israeli-military-brutality-in-bilin/" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>Tear gas, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/910.shtml" target="_blank">rubber-coated metal<br /> bullets</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3814.shtml" target="_blank">live bullets</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3984.shtml" target="_blank"></a></p> <p>shock grenades, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0509/S00166.htm" target="_blank"><br /> curfews</a> and a new device called "<a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=70496" target="_blank">the Scream</a>"—a huge<br /> loudspeaker that emits painful sound waves—are commonly used to <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/09/09/israel-represses-non-violent-protest-in-occupied-west-bank/" target="_blank"><br /> prevent</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.yairgil.com/bilin-050506/" target="_blank"><br /> disperse</a><br /> the demonstrations, which have not yet halted the Wall's construction. </p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">About<br /> one-third of the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.btselem.org/Download/Separation_Barrier_Map_Eng.pdf" target="_blank">planned 420-mile Wall</a> is finished; 80 percent of it<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3430.shtml" target="_blank">penetrates into the West Bank</a>. Construction is occurring now in the<br /> <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.btselem.org/english/Separation_Barrier/Jerusalem.asp" target="_blank">Jerusalem</a>, <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://stopthewall.org/maps/857.shtml" target="_blank"></a></font></p> <p>Bethlehem and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=643" target="_blank"><br /> Hebron</a> regions, as well as around the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/08/11/the-ariel-finger-and-its-impacts/" target="_blank">Ariel<br /> bloc</a> of settlements deep inside the northern West Bank. If completed<br /> there and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4161.shtml" target="_blank">along the Jordan Valley</a>, around 46 percent of the West Bank<br /> stands to be annexed. More than 400,000 <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.sabellaphoto.com/olives1.htm" target="_blank">olive trees</a>, which comprise<br /> 40 percent of Palestine's <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.grassrootsonline.org/weblog/palag.html" target="_blank">cultivated land</a> and are the <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/08/11/the-ariel-finger-and-its-impacts/" target="_blank"><br /> staple crop</a><br /> of<br /> rural communities, are estimated to have been <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=5325&amp;CategoryId=11" target="_blank">uprooted</a> during the last<br /> five years.</p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><font size="2">This Fall promises to be another season<br /> of intense <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.afsc.org/israel-palestine/learn/nonviolence-and-the-olive-harvest.htm" target="_blank">grassroots resistance</a>. Palestine's annual <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3301.shtml" target="_blank"><br /> olive harvest<br /> </a> peaks<br /> in October and November, and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2005/08/322090.html" target="_blank">international activists will once again<br /> be present</a> to challenge <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://fromoccupiedpalestine.org/node.php?id=1456" target="_blank">Israeli settler</a> and <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.labournet.net/world/0310/pal1.html" target="_blank"><br /> army</a> actions that <a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1221/p09s02-coop.html" target="_blank"><br /> deny Palestinians<br /> access to their land</a> and the<a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.eappi.org/eappi.nsf/index/rep-ja-05022309.html" target="_blank"> right to harvest their crops</a>.</font></p> <p><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">For<br /> more information about the 2005 olive harvest in Palestine, contact the </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);" onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/" target="_blank">International Solidarity Movement</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 102);">.</span><br /> </font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Palatino" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><span style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">To learn more about the nonviolent resistance against apartheid of Palestinian<br /> communities, visit </span><a onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.stopthewall.org/" target="_blank" style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">www.stopthewall.org</a></font></p> <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 51);"><span></span>Ethan is an anti-Zionist, eco-anarchist Jew, a graduate from the Arava<br /> Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel and the founder of the<br /> Trees Not Walls Network. He owes a debt to forests for providing refuge<br /> to his grandfather for two years in Eastern Europe during the<br /> Holocaust. Contact him at<br /> </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 153, 51);" onfiltered="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://us.f329.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=treesnotwalls@riseup.net.." target="_blank">treesnotwalls@riseup.net</a></p></div>