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STOP THE WALL!
The Apartheid Wall Campaign
January 2003

Read BostontoPalestine's delegates reports from this campaign

David
Jan
Dunya
Martin

The Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network's (PENGON) Apartheid Wall Campaign is a national and international mobilization effort to stop the massive operation by the State of Israel to confiscate and destroy hundreds of thousands of dunums of Palestinian land by the creation of the Apartheid Wall, which if completed will bring to the Israeli annexation of some 10% of the West Bank. Bulldozers, land razing and tree uprooting are a daily scene, as are the handing out of devastating land confiscation and house demolition orders by the Israeli military. The Wall is a tragic "advancement" of the closure and siege policy and will leave thousands of families landless, jobless, hungry, and hopeless. The image of cities and villages encircled by checkpoints, by-pass roads, and settlements is now being accompanied by an 8-meter high concrete wall with trenches, electric fences, sensors, cameras, and armed watchtowers. The prospects of a completed wall are horrific.

We estimate that at the current rate Israel is working, the Wall could be completed by the end of 2003. To date, less than 4 kilometers of the expected minimum 350 kilometers of the actual Wall has been built but destruction for the groundwork of the Wall, marked by land confiscation and razing, is taking place on a massive scale and there are tens of communities today that need support to safeguard their lands from total destruction.

CAMPAIGN RESOURCES & LINKS
Campaign Report #1 in both PDF and HTML:

http://www.pengon.org/wall/report1.html,
http://www.pengon.org/wall/wall.pdf
Fact Sheet, December 2002: http://www.pengon.org/wall/fact.html
A powerful statement by the Qalqiliya District communities, translated by
PENGON: http://www.pengon.org/wall/stat.html

http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20021227221716826
Campaign Report #1 has kindly been translated into French by Giorgio Basile on the website "Solidaires du Peuple Palestinien", which has a large selection of information on the Wall, and can be found at:
http://www.solidarite-palestine.org/mur002.html

WHAT YOU CAN DO!
CALLING ON INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY
*VOLUNTEER: We are looking for volunteers to help in international advocacy such as information dissemination, translation, website design, etc. We need support in people's home countries in mobilizing around the Campaign. Contact us if you are interested at
outreach@pengon.org.

*ORGANIZE PUBLIC MEETINGS AND PRESENTATIONS: Contact us about speakers in your area. We will have in the coming days a number of Power Point Presentations which you can present to various audiences. Contact us to receive a copy of a presentation.

*PUT INFORMATION ON YOUR SITES AND E-GROUPS: Spread the word by putting a link on you site and posting our information on the Internet.

*BECOME A PARTNER ORGANIZATION: Join the Campaign and become a partner in order to help us expand our support base, gain greater exposure, and learn from you as to what you can do and information you need to stop the Wall.

*WRITE TO YOUR LOCAL MEDIA: Pressure the media to give the issue
greater importance and accuracy.

*MAKE THE ISSUE KNOWN IN GATHERINGS, DEMONSTRATIONS & CONFERENCES:
Disseminate information about the Wall, connect the Wall to the Occupation, and make the issue known.

*INFORM US OF YOUR ACTIVITIES: We often are not directly informed when an organization or individual is disseminating our information or posting it on their site. Please let us know so we can better build our international advocacy platform.

*CONTACT BUILDING: If you know of people, organizations and journalists that could be a part of the Campaign or give it much-needed exposure, tell us about them, or make the connection between us and them.

*FINANCIAL SUPPORT: We are in great need of financial support in various areas, such as various forms of farmer support, information collection, international advocacy, legal fees, printing costs, etc. Contact us at outreach@pengon.org if you are able to support or know of organizations or channels that would be interested in doing so.

THUS FAR.
Since the October launching of the Apartheid Wall Campaign the following have been achieved and are being developed:

Establishment of Emergency Centers: The Campaign Emergency Centers, located in Qalqiliya, Tulkarem, and Jenin areas, are being supported by the Palestinian Hydrology Group, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees, and Medical Relief respectively, all PENGON members. These centers are the main address in the areas which have been most affected by the Wall where local committees and individual farmers receive support, where information is collected, where media, local visitors and international solidarity groups gather, and where legal support for the farmers is provided. Publication and Widespread

Dissemination of Informational Material:
Close to 2,000 hard copies of Report #1 have been disseminated, and thousands have seen the report on the PENGON and other websites. Fact sheets, interviews, and meetings with the media, which are taking place regularly, are giving much needed exposure to this issue. Report #2, a Power Point presentation, and other informational material in both English and Arabic are to be ready in the coming month. Meeting and Touring of Media, Int'l Organizations, and Solidarity Groups:

Campaign representatives in the northern areas, Jerusalem and Ramallah are meeting regularly with media, international human rights and humanitarian organizations, and solidarity groups to inform them of and update them on the Wall. Some 50 such individuals on a weekly basis are utilizing the Campaign to tour the northern areas where the Wall and the preparations for the Wall can be seen. The Campaign is also organizing long-term stays in the localities around the Wall for international solidarity groups. In addition, various local committees have organized a number of protests and activities that have brought together the communities in the north with local and international solidarity groups.

Farmer Support: The Campaign, through the PENGON member organizations, is starting to run a number of support programs for the farmers, including the subsidizing of tree planting/seedlings in the lands behind or west of the Wall, which are areas that have been or are to be confiscated by Israel in the newly-formed "security" zone. In addition, damage to water networks are beginning to be repaired while other networks will be re-routed in order to ensure that water reaches the areas behind the Wall. These forms of urgent support are all in their beginning stages and are looking to continue and answer to the increased needs of the farmers and communities. The Campaign is also currently working on providing the various localities, through the Campaign Emergency Centers, technical support through agronomists that can advise the farmers on issues such as planting, pesticides, and damage assessment. The Campaign is also supporting local committees in the villages in order to ensure coordination among the farmers/communities and between the farmers/communities and the Campaign, flow of information, prevent neglect of communities or individuals, and promote cohesive positions and goals. Weekly meetings take place between the heads of the various local committees and the Campaign Emergency Centers.

Legal Support: The Campaign has just contracted a law office which was highly recommended by local organizations and farmers in the northern areas in order to provide them with legal support. There have been various legal actions in the past months through the Israeli/Occupation courts by Palestinian and Campaign organizations, such as LAW, which have called for the cessation of the Wall in the northern areas and in Jerusalem. Such cases have also called for the halting of the destruction of property. The court decisions, a number of which have reached the Israeli High Court, have consistently come out against the cessation of the Wall and in agreement with the destruction and confiscation of land and house demolitions for the "security of the State of Israel", which the courts have repeatedly stated takes all precedent. The implications of this are that the legal system, once again, is collaborating with the government and the military, providing a green light for massive illegal actions. The Campaign will continue to target the courts in the hopes that the expected minimal legal victories will allow for farmers to access their lands and to repair and build water infrastructure as a source of survival and relief for the communities. Legal actions may allow the Campaign to buy time but do not and cannot replace the Campaign and the call to stop the Wall. The Apartheid Wall Campaign prides itself in being a joint effort of Palestinian NGOs and grassroots organizations and is the only such effort taking place. The communities affected by the Wall see the Apartheid Wall Campaign as their national and international voice against the Wall and its measures on the ground and look to the Campaign to help them keep strong and determined in these terrible days.

We look to organizations worldwide to join us in this effort, so that we will all say loudly and jointly: Stop the Wall! Contact the Campaign/PENGON
at outreach@pengon.org

For more information:

International Solidarity Movement: www.palsolidarity.org
The Rapprochement Center: www.rapprochement.org