February 23, 2004
The New York Times

A Wall as a Weapon

by Noam Chomsky

It is a virtual reflex for governments to plead security concerns when they undertake any controversial action, often as a pretext for something else. Careful scrutiny is always in order. Israel's so-called security fence, which is the subject of hearings starting today at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, is a case in point.

Few would question Israel's right to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks like the one yesterday, even to build a security wall if that were an appropriate means. It is also clear where such a wall would be built if security were the guiding concern: inside Israel, within the internationally recognized border, the Green Line established after the 1948-49 war. The wall could then be as forbidding as the authorities chose: patrolled by the army on both sides, heavily mined, impenetrable. Such a wall would maximize security, and there would be no international protest or violation of international law.

This observation is well understood. While Britain supports America's opposition to the Hague hearings, its foreign minister, Jack Straw, has written that the wall is "unlawful." Another ministry official, who inspected the "security fence," said it should be on the Green Line or "indeed on the Israeli side of the line." A British parliamentary investigative commission also called for the wall to be built on Israeli land, condemning the barrier as part of a "deliberate" Israeli "strategy of bringing the population to heel."

What this wall is really doing is taking Palestinian lands. It is also - as the Israeli sociologist Baruch Kimmerling has described Israel's war of "politicide" against the Palestinians - helping turn Palestinian communities into dungeons, next to which the bantustans of South Africa look like symbols of freedom, sovereignty and self-determination. . . .

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"3000 NGOs brand Israel "Racist Apartheid" State," Reuters, September 2, 2001

[Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon? Have they turned their backs on their profound and noble religious traditions? Have they forgotten that God cares deeply about the downtrodden?--Desmond Tutu, " Apartheid in the Holy Land," Guardian, April 29, 2002]

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[The International Court of Justice has said the barrier Israel is building to seal off the West Bank violates international law because it infringes on the rights of Palestinians. . . .

The nonbinding opinion also found that Israel was obligated to return confiscated land or make reparations for any destruction or damage to homes, businesses and farms caused by the barrier's construction.-- "UN court rules West Bank barrier illegal," CNN.com, July 9, 2004]

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[A recent report by the House of Commons international development committee pointed to the leverage available through making European trade agreements conditional on Israel's compliance with international law and security council resolutions (all flouted by Israel).--Gerald Kaufman, "The case for sanctions against Israel: What worked with apartheid can bring peace to the Middle East," Guardian, July 12, 2004]

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[150 nations voted in favour of dismantling the wall, 10 abstained, and six - Israel, the US, Australia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau - rejected the motion.--Matthew Tempest, "UN calls for Israel to tear down wall," Guardian, July 21, 2004]

[The court's opinion leaves Israel entirely free to build a wall within its pre-1967 borders.--Gregory H. Fox, "What the Court Really Said About Israel's Wall," Washington Post, July 22, 2004]

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