PALESTINIANS TEAR DOWN PARTS OF WEST BANK ‘APARTHEID WALL’

During Iran’s retaliatory strikes against Israel on 13 April, Palestinians tore down parts of a 708-kilometre-long, 9-metre-high barrier near the Beit El Israeli settlement in the West Bank.

Israel built the barrier during the second Intifada (Palestinian uprising) between 2000 and 2005. In 2004, the International Court of Justice branded the steel and concrete ‘apartheid wall’ a political measure and a de facto land grab, as about 80 per cent of Israeli settlers lived within the walls at the time, preventing Palestinians’ free movement. The judges called the wall—which Israel dubbed an ‘anti-terror fence’—a violation of human rights and international law, ordering Israel to tear it down and make reparations. The court also called on the UN to consider measures against Israel, but nothing has happened for two decades.

In the meantime, the Palestinian side of the West Bank wall has become a canvas for graffiti art, showcasing opposition to segregation, Palestinians’ right to return, as well as support for human rights in general.

The West Bank wall’s rupture could be a milestone in the Palestinian liberation struggle and a dent in the Western-backed, Israeli settler-colonial project.

Could this event foreshadow the end of the Israeli apartheid state? Let us know what you think.