Home > In the shadow of Sharon’s wall
In the shadow of Sharon’s wall
Israel must tear down its ring of concrete, razor wire
and watchtowers around my town
By Marouf Zahran
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1153737,
00.html
My town and its people are slowly suffocating. The
government of the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon,
is building a grotesque wall. He is building it on land
that belongs to Palestinians: land occupied by Israel
and held in violation of international law. He is
building it, like a tightening noose, around my town,
Qalqilya.
Qalqilya is a lovely town, an ancient Canaanite town,
home to approximately 45,000 Palestinian men, women and
children. We are a town of farmers and, as is
traditional in Palestinian society, our farmland
surrounds the town centre. For centuries, Qalqilya’s
citizens have risen each morning to work their fields,
returning in the evening to their families, friends and
neighbours. Qalqilya is on the Green Line, the border
between what became Israeli in 1948 and the Palestinian
territory Israel occupied in 1967. In 1948, Israel took
nearly 80% of our farmland. Since then, we have made do
with the rest.
We had a decent life, we prospered. We were a rare
oasis of coexistence where Israelis came to buy our
fruit, eat in our restaurants and visit our zoo. More
than 40 Palestinian-Israeli business ventures were
based in our town. Almost all of us speak Hebrew and
see Israelis as our neighbours, not our enemies.
Then came Sharon’s wall - a wall of concrete 8m high,
with razor wire, sniper towers, trenches and electric
fences. The wall tightly encircles our town and cuts us
off from our farmland and our livelihood. Armed Israeli
soldiers control one narrow gateway from which we are
allowed to enter and leave - if we are lucky enough to
have a permit. On the rare occasions when our farmers
are able to visit their fields, they are met by
withered, untended crops, dying in the shadow of an
ugly concrete wall. In the process of building its
wall, Israel confiscated our land, demolished
greenhouses and uprooted orchards. One-third of
Qalqilya’s water supply is inaccessible - the wells now
lie outside the wall.
Israel allows very few people to enter Qalqilya,
thereby cutting us off from family and friends in 32
neighbouring villages and devastating our local
businesses. More than 75% of our citizens are
unemployed and our tax revenues are a mere trickle.
Meanwhile, the Israel Electric Company, which provides
our electricity, has threatened to cut off power to
Qalqilya if I cannot come up with $1.5m (£800,000) to
pay our municipal electric bill. As mayor, I am
responsible for Qalqilya’s wellbeing. But I can only
watch helplessly as Israel squeezes the very life out
of my town.
Sharon claims that he is building his wall to provide
Israelis with security. If that were true, he would
have built the wall on the Green Line. But his wall has
nothing to do with security, and everything to do with
his final plan for the "Palestinian problem". Sharon’s
"vision" is to confiscate as much Palestinian land as
possible, leaving millions of Palestinians to live in
ghettos - decaying, impoverished towns, encaged by
concrete walls, electrified fences and razor wire,
breeding only hopelessness and despair. If Sharon gets
his way, today’s Qalqilya will be the prototype for
tomorrow’s Palestinian "state".
For nearly three years before the start of the current
intifada, not a single Israeli civilian was killed
inside Israel by an act of terrorism. There was no wall
then - but there was a peace process and a genuine
Palestinian belief that Israel would end its occupation
and allow the Palestinians to live in the same freedom
and security it demands for Israelis.
Instead of reinstilling that belief, Israel is only
creating more animosity. Since the wall’s construction,
the number of Qalqilya residents supporting Palestinian
extremist groups has risen sharply.
Sharon’s wall is not about peace. It is not about
security. It is about the hatred that Sharon has for my
people as non-Jews in land he wants for his Jewish
state, the hatred he has for our quest for freedom and
independence based on equality.
Today, the international court of justice will begin
its hearings on the legal conse quences of Sharon’s
wall. The residents of Qalqilya are praying that the
court and the international community will finally take
action. At what point in the implementation of Sharon’s
final plan for the Palestinians will Israel be held
legally and morally accountable for its actions?
When President Bush next meets Israeli leaders, he will
have a wonderful opportunity to win the Muslim and Arab
hearts and minds that he wants for his war against
terrorism. Just as President Reagan changed the world
by challenging President Gorbachev to tear down the
Berlin Wall, so too can Bush change the world by
calling on Sharon to tear down his wall. It is time to
start building bridges instead.
Marouf Zahran is mayor of the Palestinian town of
Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank
Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004