The West Bank barrier, West Bank wall or the West Bank separation barrier, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. Israel describes the wall as a necessary security barrier against Palestinian political violence, whereas Palestinians describe it as an element of racial segregation and a representation of Israeli apartheid,Dona J. Stewart, The Middle East Today: Political, Geographical and Cultural Perspectives, Routledge, 2013 p. 223. often calling it a "wall of apartheid". At a total length of upon completion, the route traced by the barrier is more than double the length of the Green Line, with 15% of its length running along the Green Line or inside Israel, and the remaining 85% running as much as inside the West Bank, effectively isolating about 9% of the land and approximately 25,000 Palestinians from the rest of the Palestinian territory.
Israel began constructing the barrier in 2002 during the Second Intifada (2000–2005), citing the need to stop suicide bombings and attacks by Palestinian militants inside Israel. The Israeli government cites a decreased number of suicide bombings carried out from the West Bank as evidence of its efficacy, after such attacks fell from 73 between 2000 and July 2003 (the completion of the first continuous segment) to 12 between August 2003 and the end of 2006. While the barrier was initially presented as a temporary security measure at a time of heightened tensions, it has since been associated with a future political border between Israel and the State of Palestine.
The barrier has drawn criticism from Palestinians, human rights groups, and members of the international community, who have all argued that it serves as evidence of Israel's intent to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security. It has also been alleged that the construction of the wall aims to undermine the Israeli–Palestinian peace process by unilaterally establishing new de facto borders. Key points of criticism are that it substantially deviates eastward from the Green Line, severely restricts the travel of many Palestinians, and impairs their ability to commute to work within the West Bank or to Israel. The International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion finding that the barrier violates international law."International Court of Justice finds Israeli barrier in Palestinian territory is illegal ". UN News Centre. United Nations. 9 July 2004."Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory". International Court of Justice. 9 July 2004. Archived from the original on 2 September 2004. In 2003, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that charged Israel's building of the barrier as a violation of international law and demanded its removal by a vote of 144–4 with 12 abstentions.Semple, Kirk (22 October 2003). "U.N. Resolution Condemns Israeli Barrier ". The New York Times.
The barrier's concrete walled sections on the Palestinian side have become a canvas for political art and graffiti by Palestinian and international artists, depicting Palestinian national symbols, resistance, their right of return, and human rights.
Names
In Hebrew, descriptions include: "separation fence" (, ); "separation wall" (, ) and "security fence" (, ).Robert Zelnick, Israel's Unilateralism: Beyond Gaza, Hoover Press, 2006, p 30-31 , , 9780817947736Fiona de Londras, Detention in the 'War on Terror': Can Human Rights Fight Back?, Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 177–78 , "
In Arabic, it is called "wall of apartheid"/"racial segregation wall"Juliana Ochs,Security and Suspicion: An Ethnography of Everyday Life in Israel, University of Pennsylvania Press 2011 p.147 , , indicating an allegation of Israeli apartheid.
In English, the BBC's style guide uses the terms "barrier" (sometimes "separation barrier" or "West Bank barrier") as do The Economist, PBS and The New York Times. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs uses the phrase "security fence" in English. The International Court of Justice has used the term "wall", explaining that "the other expressions sometimes employed are no more accurate if understood in the physical sense." It is also referred to as the "Apartheid Wall" or "Apartheid Fence" in a derogatory manner.The Road Map to Nowhere: Israel/Palestine Since 2003, Tanya Reinhart (2006) "Seam zone" () refers to the land between the 1949 Armistice Agreement Line and the fence.
Structure
The barrier is described by the Israel Defense Forces as a "multi-layered composite obstacle", parts of it consisting of a high concrete wall, while other stretches consist of a multi-layered fence system, with three fences with pyramid-shaped stacks of barbed wire on the two outer fences and a lighter-weight fence with intrusion detection equipment in the middle; an anti-vehicle ditch; patrol roads on both sides; and a smooth strip of sand for "intrusion tracking".
Where the multi-layered fence system is employed, it contains an exclusion area of in width on average,. with some sections having an exclusion area that reaches up to .Behind the barrier: Human Rights Violations as a Result of Israel's Separation Barrier , pp. 5–8. Yehezkel Lein, B'Tselem, March 2003. Here available . p. 8: "The average width of the barrier complex is sixty meters. Due to topographic constraints, a narrower barrier will be erected in some areas and will not include all of the elements that support the electronic fence. However, as the state indicated to the High Court of Justice, "in certain cases, the barrier will reach a width of one hundred meters due to the topographic conditions." The concrete wall has a width of , and the wall is high.
Route
The barrier runs partly along or near the 1949 Jordanian–Israeli armistice line ("Green Line") and partly through the Israeli-occupied West Bank diverging eastward from the armistice line by up to to include on the western side several of the areas with concentrations of highly populated Israeli settlements, such as East Jerusalem, the Ariel Bloc (Ariel, Karnei Shomron, Kedumim, Immanuel etc.), Gush Etzion, Givat Ze'ev, Oranit, and Maale Adumim.
The barrier nearly encircles some Palestinian towns, about 20% follows the armistice line,Preliminary Analysis of the Humanitarian Implications of February 2005 Barrier Projections . OCHAoPt, 8 March 2005 and a projected or about 13.5% of the West Bank area is on the west side of the wall. According to a study of the April 2006 route by the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, 8.5% of the West Bank area will be on the Israeli side of the barrier after completion, and 3.4% partly or completely surrounded on the eastern side. Some 27,520 to 31,000 Palestinians will be captured on the Israeli side.Barrier Route Projections – Update 5 . OCHAoPt, July 2006 Another 124,000, on the other hand, will effectively be controlled and isolated. Some 230,000 Palestinians in Jerusalem will be placed on the West Bank side. Most of the barrier was built at the northern and western edges of the West Bank, mostly beyond the Green Line and created 9 enclaves, which enclosed . An additional barrier, circa 10 km long, run south of Ramallah.Barrier Route Projections – Update 2: Preliminary Analysis . OCHAoPt, January 2004
Israel states that the topography does not permit putting the barrier along the Green Line in some places because hills or tall buildings on the Palestinian side would make the barrier ineffective against terrorism.Map of Israel Security Barrier ("Wall") – Current Status (2006) MidEastWeb, June 2006 The International Court of Justice states that in such cases it is only legal to build the barrier inside Israel.
The barrier route has been challenged in court and changed several times. Argument presented to the court has reiterated that the cease-fire line of 1949 was negotiated "without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundary lines" (Art. VI.9).Jordanian-Israeli General Armistice Agreement, April 3, 1949 . The Avalon Project
Timeline In 1992, the idea of creating a physical barrier between the Israeli and Palestinian populations was proposed by then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, following the murder of an Israeli teenage girl in Jerusalem. Rabin said that Israel must "take Gaza out of Tel Aviv" in order to minimize friction between the peoples., pp. 50–64. David Makovsky, Foreign Affairs, volume 83, issue 2, March/April 2004; ; Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: from Balfour Promise to Bush Declaration: The Complications and the Road for a Lasting Peace , pp. 325–26. Gabriel G. Tabarani, AuthorHouse, 2008;
Following an outbreak of violent incidents in Gaza in October 1994, Rabin said: "We have to decide on separation as a philosophy. There has to be a clear border. Without demarcating the lines, whoever wants to swallow 1.8 million Arabs will just bring greater support for Hamas." Following an attack on HaSharon Junction, near the city of Netanya, Rabin made his goals more specific: "This path must lead to a separation, though not according to the borders prior to 1967. We want to reach a separation between us and them. We do not want a majority of the Jewish residents of the state of Israel, 98% of whom live within the borders of sovereign Israel, including a united Jerusalem, to be subject to terrorism."Routledge Handbook on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict , p. 191. Gerald M. Steinberg, Routledge, 2013;
In 1994, the first section of a barrier (slabs of concrete contiguous for miles) was constructed. The section follows the border between Bat Hefer and Tulkarm communities.
In 1995, the Shahal commission was established by Yitzhak Rabin to discuss how to implement a barrier separating Israelis and Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, prior to the Camp David 2000 Summit with Yasser Arafat, vowed to build a separation barrier, stating that it is "essential to the Palestinian nation in order to foster its national identity and independence without being dependent on the State of Israel".
In November 2000, during Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations in Washington, Prime Minister Ehud Barak approved financing of a fence between the Wadi Ara region and Latrun. In 14 April 2002, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to implement the plan and create a permanent barrier in the Seam Area. The plan was approved on 23 June 2002 by the Ariel Sharon GovernmentUN Division for Palestinian Rights, Monthly media monitoring review, December 2000 . See par. 25 and work at the barrier began.
At the end of 2002, due to government inaction, several localities who suffered the most from lack of a border barrier had already started to build the barrier using their own funds directly on the green-line.
By 2003, had been completed and in 2004, Israel started the southern part of the barrier.