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More than 200,000 Palestinians are already suffering because of the Israeli wall
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COPENHAGEN,
July 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - An eight-meter high
copy of Israel's controversial separation wall in the occupied West
Bank was erected at the opening of an annual international music
festival in Roskilde, near Copenhagen, on Thursday, July 1.
The
Danish humanitarian organization Dan Church Aid raised the wall
bearing the inscription: "Make Peace, not Walls" near the
festival's main stage, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"We
have taken a political stand, but we are not opposed to the Israeli
state. We have to react, because this wall entails serious
humanitarian consequences for the Palestinians whose land has been
confiscated," Dan Church Aid spokesman Rasmus Helveg Petersen
told AFP.
"If
(the wall) had been built on the old separation green line of 1967, we
would not have reacted. But that is not the case. And we are not the
only ones, nor the first to denounce the position of the wall. The UN,
international humanitarian and human rights organizations, including
Israeli ones have done this before us," he said.
"Our
aid, no matter how good it is, is worth little if these needy people
can't farm their land, go to work, to school, to the hospital,"
he added.
Israel's
Supreme Court ordered
the government Wednesday, June 30, to reroute a large section of the
controversial barrier, saying the current course violates the human
rights of the Palestinian population.
More
than 200,000 Palestinians are already suffering dire consequences
caused by the separation wall, according to the United Nations.
The
180-kilometer (113-mile) segment completed so far has cut off villages
from markets, medical services and schools in the northern West Bank.
According
to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) with the competition of the wall, 30 percent of the
West Bank population, or some 680,000 people, will be "directly
harmed."
The
wall has resulted in the confiscation of 11,4000 dunums (2,850 acres -
1,140 hectares) of privately-owned Palestinian land and in the
destruction of 102,320 trees.
In
addition to erecting the wall, Dan Church Aid has sent some 500
volunteers to the four-day music marathon to collect empty bottles,
hoping the deposits will bring in about 300,000 kroner (49,000
dollars, 40,300 euros), which will be donated to mobile health clinics
in the West Bank and Gaza.
The
Roskilde Foundation, which is in charge of the festival, said it would
match any amount Dan Church Aid makes and donate it to the same cause,
the organization's spokesperson said.
The
attempt to draw the attention of some 75,000 Roskilde spectators to
the sufferings of the Palestinian people was harshly criticized by the
Israeli embassy and the extreme right Danish People's Party, who
accused the organization of "politicizing" its humanitarian
work.
Last
October, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution,
demanding Tel Aviv to "stop
and reserve" the construction of its separation
wall.
Another
UN report underlined that the controversial barrier constitutes illegal
annexation of Palestinian territory.
The
wall will eventually snake some 700 kilometers along the West Bank and
leave even larger swathes of its fertile territory on the Israeli
side.
The
first phase of the barrier was completed in July 2003 in the northern
West Bank.
The
defiant Israeli government of Ariel Sharon approved
last October a new 100-million-dollar section of the controversial
barrier.
Israel
claims the barrier is needed to prevent Palestinian bombers reaching
Israeli towns and cities.
However,
the Palestinian Authority fears the real aim is to dictate the borders
of the future Palestinian state.
