An OEI Exclusive

Ha’aretz, February 25, 2004

Why the wall must come down

Testimony of a Palestinian farmer at the Hague, against the “Apartheid fence”

By Sherif Omar

I am taking part (February 23) in the discussions of the international Court of Law at the Hague on Israel’s separation fence in the West Bank. I have come in order to tell the world what I have seen in the village of Jayyus: that this fence is not intended for security, it is intended to serve the occupation, and the theft of land and water.

By means of the fence, Israel is trying to frustrate our dream of establishing a Palestinian state, by its control over a large part of the land of the West Bank, and by its confiscation of our water resources. According to the plan, the fence is to wind from 48 meters to 16 kilometers (10 miles) inside the west Bank. Its construction is destroying hundreds of thousands of our sacred olive trees and almond trees, isolating tens of wells and hundreds of dunams (1 acre = about 4.5 dunams) of land. Unemployment has already reached 70% in the communities that are being hurt by the wall’s construction.

The fence will isolate the Palestinians in ghettos under the threat of Israeli soldiers and settlers. It is cutting off our economy and leaving our youth with no income, future, or hope. Ultimately it will force many to leave.

The farmers of Jayyus have organized many non-violent demonstrations against the fence, with the support of international solidarity organizations and Israeli peace activists. Our only weapons in these activities have been slogans denouncing the occupation and the apartheid fence. We have all participated, youth and elderly, men and women. We are determined never to give up and never to forget our sacred lands. But unfortunately, we and the peace activists are perpetually exposed to Israel’s military might, which has injured and even killed nonviolent demonstrators.

In one nonviolent march I was negotiating with an Israeli captain. I asked him: “Why aren’t you building the fence along the 1967 border?” He replied, “we are doing it for our security, in order to avoid future clashes.” I asked about its location, 30 meters from the homes of Jayyus, and almost 6.4 kilometers from the 1967 borders: “If you would build it on the 1967, then it would be your own decision, and we would share equally in the costs.” He replied only: “Leave that to the politicians.”

The politicians are building the fence to create an apartheid enforced by Israel, in order to prevent the Israelis and Palestinians from developing relations based on mutual respect, and in order to clear the land of the Palestinians by taking our farms, our main livelihood.

The Israeli side is misleading many with the argument that the farmers are allowed to reach their lands by means of permits. In fact, many farmers have not received permits, especially those that say “no” to the apartheid fence. I am one who has been denied such a permit. All I can do now is stand on the roof of my house and try to see my lands in the distance.

These are precisely the reasons that this wall must come down. The Palestinian people hope to know life without occupation. Ariel Sharon calls us terrorists in order to enable the Israeli right to continue its policies, the goal of which is to deprive us of our rights.

A decision in the Hague that the fence is illegal will not force Israel to act, but will lead to international pressure on Israel. Only justice can build a real peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

This past September I was working in my olive grove next to the fence, when I came across olive trees that had been uprooted when the bulldozers passed over them. These trees, whose roots reach deep into the ground, refuse to die or to surrender, and send a message to all the farmers and lovers of the earth: “Don’t give up, keep struggling, and one day you will touch the sun.”

But we need assistance. Supporters of freedom and justice around the world, and especially in Israel, must intensify their efforts, and work with us with the goal of achieving a just peace. We don’t want our children and the Israelis’ children to continue to suffer as we are suffering today.

The writer, a member of the “Committee for Defense of the Land” in the Kalkiliya area, was among the Palestinian farmers who testified at the International Court of Law in the Hague.

(Translation by Daniel Breslau)