Europe, Headlines, Human Rights, Middle East & North Africa

MIDEAST: Spain Joins International Outcry Against Israeli Wall

Alicia Fraerman

MADRID, Nov 11 2003 (IPS) - Dozens of Spanish non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are mobilising this week against “the wall of apartheid”, as they have dubbed what is planned to be a 600-km barrier, built by Israel in the West Bank.

A manifesto signed by the civil society groups and political parties taking part in the mobilisation demands “the urgent dispatch of an international monitoring body, under the mandate of the United Nations, to safeguard the lives of all Palestinian people” from the “devastating effects of the Israeli occupation.”

In the immediate term, they demand the dismantling of the sections of the wall that have already been erected, and the return of the lands expropriated from the Palestinians, as well as reparations for material losses suffered.

The signatories also “resoundingly” condemn the “absolute international passivity” and they express deep concern about the “incapacity of the European Union to pressure the state of Israel through the suspension of association agreements.”

This week’s protests in Spain are part of the “Stop the Apartheid Wall” campaign, coordinated by the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON), based in Jerusalem.

“The campaign is well channelled among the Palestinian communities, particularly those near the wall. What we have to do is step up efforts at the international level to increase pressure and bring construction to a halt,” Francisca Sauquillo, socialist deputy in the European Parliament and president of the Movement for Peace, Disarmament and Liberty (MPDL), told IPS.

The apartheid wall – a name alluding to the white segregationist regime that governed South Africa until 1994 – is the 640-km barrier that Israel is constructing, with 200 km already built. Critics say it would largely isolate 1.5 million Palestinians residing in the West Bank.

The latest stretch approved by the Israeli government is 270 km long, and includes 140 km from the Elqana settlement, south of Qalqiliya, to a military station outside Ramallah, headquarters of the Palestinian government.

Another 115-km of fence is to run from south of Jerusalem to the Carmel settlement, in southern Hebron, and 15 km will extend the length of the northeast border of the Jerusalem municipal territory.

The protests, also convened in other European cities as a response to PENGON’s appeal for a show of solidarity, began in Spain on Saturday, on the eve of the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, that divided the city between East and West Germany for nearly three decades.

“That shameful symbol of division in the 20th century was torn down, and the same should be done with this new wall,” said the groups Plataforma 2015 and the Madrid Social Forum, in a statement convening the protest that began Saturday in the historic central plaza of Madrid, the Puerta del Sol.

Over the weekend, demonstrations against the Israeli wall took place several other Spanish cities, including Barcelona, Bilbao, Gijón, Oviedo, Valencia and Zaragoza.

During the Madrid protest, a group of young people acted out a scene representing an Israeli military checkpoint. The street actors unfurled a giant Palestinian flag over the crowd until it ran into and tore down a symbolic wall made of paper.

Singer Cristina del Valle read the manifesto to the crowd, backed by the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) and the United Left coalition, the two main opposition parties, as well as the two leading labour federations, the CCOO and UGT, and the Actors Union.

Spain’s foreign minister, Ana Palacio, said in Jerusalem on the weekend that the wall in the West Bank “is contrary to the state of law” and it is a “mistake” to continue construction.

Palacio, who arrived in Jerusalem after visiting Baghdad, spoke in a news conference, accompanied by her Israeli counterpart, Silvam Shalom, voicing her opposition to the wall, but left the door open for evaluations of its “illegality”.

She said that “Spain is very familiar with the threat of terrorism, and is aware of the Israeli government’s desire to protect the population against terrorism.”

However, “…we have said openly that we think it is a mistake to continue the wall. It must be stopped, and the construction must be reviewed to determine if it is in accordance with a state of law…” she said.

PENGON’s representative in Spain, Víctor de Currea Lugo, told IPS that the campaign against the West Bank wall is being carried forward “by the fingernails,” in reference to the movement’s lack of financial resources.

“It is the fruit of the effort of many people, a great number of small NGOs that have proved capable of mobilising citizens and putting the issue on the agenda,” he said.

In reference to Palacio’s comments, he said it is important that the Spanish minister recognised “that the construction of the wall violates international law, but Spain must take further action. It has voted against the wall, and now it should remain coherent in that position.”

“We must demand that Spain and the European Union comply with their commitments and make trade with Israel contingent on the destruction of the wall… that international law be applied, just as the United Nations demands,” said the PENGON representative.

Israel has signed an agreement with the EU as an associate in economic and trade issues, but it is not foreseen that the country would join the bloc as a full member.

The European Commission, the executive body of the EU, has not adopted measures against the Israeli actions in Palestinian territories, but issued statements calling for wall construction to stop.

Gaspar Llamazares, general coordinator of Spain’s United Left, told IPS he thinks the Spanish government should demand that the EU “utilise all political and economic mechanisms available, such as suspending the association agreement, in order to put pressure on Israel, which is violating international law.”

Israel’s justification for building the wall is that it wants to prevent Palestinian suicide bombings and attacks against Israelis.

But members of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee said in Madrid that the construction is yet another indication of the lack of will in the Israeli government to achieve a just and lasting peace.

They cited the example that the 40,000 people of Qalqiliya live completely surrounded by the wall, with only one way in or out, and it is subject to restricted hours and is controlled by the Israeli military.

There, as in other towns, the population has been cut off from their fields and vendors cannot sell what the harvests.

The “new wall of shame”, as Portugal’s former president Mario Soares called it in a recent column written for IPS, is just as bad as the Berlin wall – and has become the target of NGOs and progressive parties in Spain and throughout the international community.

While they stage protests and demonstrations, Israel continues construction, and the United Nations and governments of the industrialised North criticise it, but have yet to take concrete actions to back up their words.