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Israel has brazenly established a 700-kilometer wall (which it calls a "security barrier") within Palestinian territory to clinch its seizure of sections of Palestine it has occupied after the 1967 Middle East war and additional lands that Israeli settlers have occupied in Palestine's West Bank and Gaza Strip. The wall consists of a series of concrete fences several score meters high, deep trenches, high voltage barbed wire with alarms, and a series of guard posts and towers in close proximity to each other. The walls fence in the most fertile and most favorable lands, the most abundant water and other natural resources, and the most vibrant market centers in the West Bank. Palestinian residents and farmers who used to live in the area have been forbidden outright from returning. Israel has now set aside these lands for Israeli settlers that occupy 150 colonies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The bulk of the remaining portions for Palestinians comprises difficult, barren and unfavorable terrain that lacks even potable water, is hardly arable and is without any commercial activity. All of Palestine has long been like a huge prison. The wall has made things much worse because it physically confines over 2.5 million Palestinians. Israel has also set up 16 separate enclaves in the remaining 42% of the West Bank left for Palestinians. The enclaves are not connected to each other save for bypass channels which are exclusively for Israeli use. The place has been likened to a maximum security prison compound with several isolation cells. There are no passageways between the enclaves for Palestinians. Official permits and strict requirements are necessary before anyone is allowed to pass these checkpoints. The wall obstructs and destroys the livelihood, political life and social interaction of over 400,000 Palestinians who are denied their freedom and human rights. The wall is but one of the many forms of intense suppression and brutal attacks perpetrated by the Israeli government against the Palestinians. The Israeli government claims that the "security barrier" had to be erected to protect Israelis from so-called Palestinian "terrorists," especially Palestinian suicide bombers.
The Israelis have responded with greater violence. The Israeli armed forces continue to unleash attacks, bombings, killings, arrests and other acts of cruelty against the Palestinians. Just this February 26, Israeli soldiers shot at protesting Palestinians, killing two and seriously wounding over 12. The protesters tried to stop the bulldozing of their lands in the West Bank to pave the way for the "security barrier." On the other hand, there is growing support and sympathy from the world's peoples for the Palestinian people's struggle. Opposition to the oppression of Palestinians is strongest from revolutionary, anti-imperialist and progressive organizations as well as from Arab and Islamic countries and organizations. The US feigns having reservations about the "security barrier"'s usurpation of the West Bank. In truth, US imperialism has always been behind and is a partner of Israel in its oppression and bullying posture in Palestine and other Middle Eastern countries. Israel spends $2.5 million for every mile of the "security barrier" constructed, the bulk of which comes from the $9 billion worth of new US assistance to Israel. This has caused Israel and the US' growing isolation worldwide. Just last October 21, 2003, the European Union sponsored a resolution later approved by the vast majority of the UN General Assembly calling for a halt to the construction of more of the "security barrier" and the dismantling of parts that had already been erected. Except for the US and Israel, the only ones that did not vote for the resolution were Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, two small US neocolonies in the Asia-Pacific. There are likewise two similar resolutions already pending in the Security Council since October 14, which the US continues to veto. On February 23, the UN filed a case against the "security barrier" with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) based on a resolution agreed to by 90 member countries and the Palestinian Authority (PA) as observer. Apart from the objections filed by the UN and the PA, 44 countries, the Organization of Islamic Conference and the Arab League, also filed their respective objections. Israel, the US, Australia and five small US neocolonies objected to and boycotted the hearing. Even the government of the United Kingdom which usually supports various US policies and actions in the Middle East is divided on the issue of the "security barrier." UK Foreign Affairs Minister Jack Straw has called the "security barrier" illegal. The investigative commission formed by the UK parliament to study this issue also denounced it and said that "it is a deliberate Israeli strategy to bring the Palestinian people to its knees." Many Israelis are also opposed to the "security barrier" and question the justness and legality of its construction. On February 29, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a restraining order after a case was filed by the Popular Committee Against the Wall, which includes Israelis and Palestinians opposed to the "security barrier". 
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