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The wall eats large segments of the occupied West Bank, split families, separate farmers from their land and slice Al-Quds from the future state. |
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM – The United Nations has premier a documentary on the plight of Palestinians living in the shadow of Israel's separation wall built on their lands in the occupied West Bank.
"The reason for walls is always fear, whether the personal walls that we build around ourselves or walls like this that frightened governments build around themselves," says former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters, the film narrator.
"They are always expressions of a deep-seated insecurity."
The 15-minute documentary, “Walled Horizons”, opens with a wide shot of Waters walking along a towering concrete segment of the controversial barrier beneath the painted silhouette of a giant lying on its back.
The filmmakers interview a Palestinian farmer who has lost several hectares of land to the Israeli wall and a family caught in the 'seam line' between the wall and the 1967 Green Line separating Israel from the West Bank.
The documentary concludes with a shot of scores of Palestinians packed into a fenced-in corridor waiting to pass through an Israeli checkpoint.
The 700km-long Israeli separation barrier is a mix of electronic fences, concrete walls, trenches, and closed military roads.
According to UN figures, Israel has so far completed 413 kilometers of the barrier.
"It fills me with horror, the thought of living in a giant prison," said Waters as he spray-paints "We don't need no thought control" on the wall.
Waters is an English rock musician best known as the bassist player and one of the main songwriters and lead singers in the Pink Floyd from 1964 to 1985.
He is known with his progressive rock music, philosophical lyrics, and humanitarian interests.
Reminder
The film release has been timed to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) conviction that the wall’s meandering route through the occupied West Bank is illegal.
“It is first and foremost a reminder that the world's highest court has essentially said you cannot build a fence on your neighbor’s yard," Yohan Eriksson, the Finnish director of the film, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
After the ICJ issued its landmark ruling, the UN General Assembly asked Israel to tear down the wall and compensate the Palestinians affected.
Israel has refused to do either.
The filmmakers hope to increase international awareness about the controversial barrier and its impact on the life of ordinary Palestinians.
"As well as being a powerful piece of advocacy, the film is also a very balanced piece of journalism," insists Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA).
For Palestinians, the wall is just another Israeli attempt to eat large segments of the occupied West Bank, splitting families, separating farmers from their land and slicing Al-Quds (occupied east Jerusalem) from the future state.
When completed, 85 percent of the wall will have been built inside the occupied West Bank, leaving 9.5 percent of the territory and 35,000 Palestinians between the barrier and the Green Line.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), hopes Israel would reconsider its position.
"This might be an opportunity to reflect if the reasons still prevail for continued construction at the expense of tens of thousands of Palestinians."
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