WEST BANK: UN delegates survey Palestinian areas affected by Israel's barrier, four years after World court deemed it illegal

Record ID: 560432

  • Title: WEST BANK: UN delegates survey Palestinian areas affected by Israel's barrier, four years after World court deemed it illegal
  • Date: 9th July 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN FARMER SHARIF KHALED SAYING: "The Israelis should abide by international law, the World Court, and destroy the wall (barrier) or at least build it on the Green Line. But instead of all that, in May they gave us a map explaining that they will give us back 2,488 dunams (2,488,000 square metres) and will take the rest. Jayous villagers own 8,600 dunams (8,600,000 square metres) of land. That means that they will take more than 75 percent of the land within the wall borders." PLANTS GROWING IN GREENHOUSE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN FARMER ABDEL HAFIZ KHALED SAYING: "The wall changed the lives of the farmers in Jayous. For example, we used to go whenever we wanted to our land, to plant it. Anybody could reach your land. Today you have to get a permit, you have limited time, you have gates, soldiers. There are many problems." VARIOUS OF TRUCK IN FARM
  • Embargoed: 24th July 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVADDMRRT4ZGW845QVUAWC83UCQ0
  • Story Text: Four years after a World Court ruling deemed Israel's barrier in and around the West Bank illegal, the U.N. Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) tours areas in the West Bank directly affected by the barrier.
    On July 9, 2004, the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in the Hague ruled that Israel's construction of the 720-km (430-mile) barrier on occupied West Bank land was illegal.
    Four years on, Israel continues to ignore the ruling and goes ahead with the construction of the barrier, which has been directly affecting the livelihood of many Palestinians living in the occupied territory.
    The UN office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) toured the northern West Bank village of Jayous, where a segment of the barrier cuts through the village and separates farmers from their lands.

    "Our concern is the difficult humanitarian situation rising from the route of the barrier since it runs inside the West Bank and not on the Green Line. Farmers for example have difficulty reaching their land, water wells are inaccessible and this impacts all aspects of lives, of livelihoods, access to services, access to lands, family. Families are divided," said Allegra Pacheco, the deputy head of OCHA in Jerusalem.
    The delegation surveyed the area and observed the humanitarian effects the barrier has on Palestinians living in the area.
    The Jayous section of the barrier is now complete, and now cuts through the village, rendering about 72 percent of its land out of immediate reach of its 3,000 inhabitants, according to the Palestinian Environment Network.
    Only one gate monitored and controlled by the Israeli army connects Jayous farmers to their lands.

    "The Israelis should abide by international law, the World Court, and destroy the wall (barrier) or at least build it on the Green Line,"
    said Jayyous farmer Sharif Khaled, referring to the line which separated Israel from the West Bank before Israel occupied the territory in 1967.

    "But instead of all that, in May they gave us a map explaining that they will give us back 2,488 dunams (2,488,000 square metres) and will take the rest. Jayous villagers own 8,600 dunams (8,600,000 square metres) of land. That means that they will take more than 75 percent of the land within the wall borders," Khaled said.
    Villagers who want to work their land need to carry a special Israeli-issued permit.

    "The wall changed the lives of the farmers in Jayous. For example, we used to go whenever we wanted to our land, to plant it. Anybody could reach your land. Today you have to get a permit, you have limited time, you have gates, soldiers. There are many problems," Abdel Hafiz Khaled, a Palestinian farmer, said.
    According to the World court ruling, Israel must dismantle the barrier and pay compensation to Palestinians for damages caused by the construction of the barrier.
    Israel says the network of razor-wire fences and concrete barricades helps to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers who killed nearly 300 Israelis in the three years between the start of an uprising in 2000 and the beginning of work on the barrier.
    Palestinians say the barrier, which loops around Jewish settlements that dot the occupied territory, cutting off Palestinian villages from swathes of agricultural fields, is a land grab that could deny them a contiguous and viable state.
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