I have so far sent reports describing Jayyous, and its agricultural gates and checkpoint into Israel. However I have found that it's impossible to make sense of what's happening here without looking at a map of the area, so that's what I will do in this report.
I attach a map of the area which includes Jayyous. This area is located inside the Green Line (see below) about half way up the West Bank. On a map of Israel/Palestine, the nearest large town, Qalqilya, bulges out towards the Mediterranean in the west so that Israel at this point is at its narrowest. Qalqilya is only a few miles from Tel Aviv or Netanya.
Making sense of the map--facts
It's quite complicated, so let's take it step by step.
· First locate the Green Line which is represented by a dotted green line running from the middle top to the bottom. This dotted green line follows the bulge of Qalqilya in the middle and left of the map. The Green Line is the armistice line from the 1948/9 war, and is the internationally recognised border for the West Bank of the putative new state of Palestine.
· Second: moving eastward (to the right) you will see a red line which snakes backwards and forwards as it goes towards the bottom of the map. This is the route of Israel's Separation Wall/Fence which in this part of the West Bank is complete.
· Third: you will see some dark purple and lighter purple patches. These represent Israeli settlements and areas earmarked for future settlement expansion respectively: Zuffin in the north, Alfe Menashe in the middle, and Oranit and Sha'are Tiqwa in the south at the bottom of the map. You will see that these are actually east (to the right) of the Green Line and located on what is supposed to be Palestinian territory.
· Fourth: you will see some yellow areas which represent Palestinian towns and villages. Qalqilya is the largest of these with a population of about 50,000. Jayyous with its population of around 3500 is at the centre of the map just over halfway up and is circled. It is close to a zigzag in the red line.
· Fifth: there are faint green areas in the areas of each of the settlements and between the Green Line to the west (left) and the red line representing the Separation Wall/Fence. These are the so-called seam-zones. These include Palestinian land part of which has been confiscated by Israel and part of which still belongs to Palestinians who access it via agricultural gates which I described in my last Report and which are marked by green crosses on the map.
· Sixth: there are four crosses in red circles and one in a green circle. These are major checkpoints by which settlers (red) and Palestinian workers (green) can enter Israel. There is also a cross in a blue circle which is a checkpoint for entry by Palestinians into Qalqilya. It is currently unused but could be re-introduced at any time. You will see that it is one of only two entrances to the town which is circled completely by the Wall/Fence. The other entrance is the route marked by a "T" in a black circle which joins two Palestinain sections of the West Bank. The "T" is a tunnel under the road used by Israeli settlers who can enter Israel via the Jaljoulia checkpoint.
· Finally (at last!) you will see some black, grey and red dotted lines in the three seam zones. These represent future re-routings of the Wall/Fence ordered by Israeli courts as a result either of legal cases brought by Palestinians or of practical operational difficulties caused by the current route of the Wall/Fence.
What on earth should we make of this hugely complicated arrangement?
To my mind, the evidence shows from the early 1970s successive Israeli governments pursued a project to colonise the West Bank by placing settlement towns and roads at strategic points on Palestinian land. Alfe Menashe was started in 1983 and is now a town of 6500. Zuffin was built later and has a population of some 2000. Both are within easy reach of Tel Aviv. When the decision to build the Wall/Fence was taken in the early 2000s, it was built partly for security reasons but also unilaterally to set a future border between Israel and the putative Palestinian state. As such it had to include the major settlements within Israel, especially those close to the Green Line. The result is the hotpotch of walls, fences, roads and tunnels we see close to Jayyous today. Some other areas of the West Bank and East Jerusalem are equally complex for exactly the same reasons.
We should note that all this activity by the Government of Israel is considered illegal by most countries of the world including the USA, the UK and the EU for the following reasons:
· First: the Israeli settlements are on what is considered Palestinian territory both in the Jayyous area and elsewhere in the West Bank. As such they are illegal in international law, specifically the 4th Geneva Convention (1949) article 49 which prohibits an occupier from settling its own population on the land it is occupying.
· Second: Israel started to build the Wall/Fence in 2002 at the height of the second Intifade with its suicide bombings by Palestinians. Its stated aim in building the Wall/Fence was security for and protection of its citizens. Israel could have built the Wall/Fence on the Green Line, the putative border, but instead chose in many places to build it well inside Palestinian territory, in some cases many km inside, so as to incorporate its settlements on the Israeli side of the Wall/Fence. Because of this, the Wall/Fence was judged illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004. The advisory ruling stated that Israel should dismantle those sections of the Wall/Fence built on occupied land, return land to the Palestinians, and compensate Palestinians where restitution was not possible. For its part, the international community should ensure that this was done and that Israel should observe international humanitarian law. We still await any actions along these lines!
The map comes from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA). You can find this and similar maps of other areas on their website (www.unochaopt.org).
Mike Barnes
10 April 2010
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