The Wall
Israel began the construction of the apartheid wall in June 2002, after it invaded and reoccupied the West Bank, as a response to the Arab Peace Proposal which came out of the Arab League Summit in Beirut in 2002 . The apartheid wall is a mechanism of separation and segregation which accelerates the processes of colonisation of land and the conquest of natural resources for exclusive Jewish use. The wall pushes Palestinians off their land into confined spaces, segmented ghettos and cantons, which are divided from one another; in many instances the wall completely encircles and imprisons Palestinian villages behind its 8 meters high concrete structures. When the construction of the wall is completed over 40% of the West Bank will have been annexed to Israel; the wall will also leave approximately 400,000 Palestinians isolated outside of the system of emerging homelands, effectively forcing them to uproot and relocate to Palestinian cantons.
On July 9, 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the wall constitutes a clear violation of international law. The ICJ called upon Israel to immediately comply with international law and dismantle the wall, it also called upon states not to recognise the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall or to assist in its construction. The ICJ ruling further called upon Israel to provide reparations to Palestinians for all the damages incurred because of the construction of the wall.
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