Mas'ha Camp against the Apartheid Wall

• THE WALL: Security NO, Harassment YES (news item, Dec 03)
• Index of press coverage
• Photos
• Presentation (external link)
• Petition
• Maps and Reports
• Solidarity message from Noam Chomsky
• One Family Bantustan in Mas'ha Village (external link)
• Camp shut down by Israeli Occupation Forces

Between March and August 2003, the IWPS participated in a camp in Mas'ha village, in an olive grove that was since bulldozed to make way for the second phase of the Apartheid Wall.

Foreign television crews from around the world, as well as hundreds of Israelis, Internationals and Palestinians, stayed in the camp. Bulldozers steadily decreased the size of the camp, which fast became a single hilltop of resistance - a powerful symbol of the indigenous Palestinian peoples' legitimate desire to remain on their land

Quotes by some of the Mas’ha Camp participants:

• “This wall is the first wall of a prison for 3 million Palestinians,” states Jonathan, an Israeli who regularly stayed at the camp to provide solidarity and protection. 
• “This wall is not about the security of Israel at all, it is about the confiscation of land and water resources,” states Nazeeh, a farmer whose land and that of the rest of his family was destroyed and confiscated in order to make room for the wall. 

• “The construction of this wall is the death of any possibility for peace in the Middle East.  We must mobilize international efforts to stop its construction,” stated Rizik.

• “It’s obvious that this wall is just one more way for Israel to grab more land and transfer more people,” stated Barbara, a Canadian activist.

Story of Najeh Shalabi of Mas’ha:

Najeh has 10 siblings and his wife has seven siblings, all of whom communally farm 60 dunums of land – olive trees, wheat, peas and beans. With children, the family is over 100 people. The wall is being built directly through his land – he will lose 50 out of the 60 dunums. (The camp is taking place on his land – the part that will be annexed to Israel). Out of 100 trees, he will only have 12 left. He used to have another 80 dunums with 800 trees but these were confiscated to build the settlement of Elkana. The extended family has 10 children in university and another 30 children in school to support. “My family has lived here forever. Our only income is from the land. Now we have nothing to do and no possibility to work in Israel. We’re struggling now.”

Najeh says that when the village first heard about the wall, “everybody went crazy because we depend on agriculture so when they take the land from you, what are you going to plant?”

On the future, Najeh says “Whatever we do they’ve got the power – they’re going to build the wall. We just want to appeal to everyone to stop them from stealing the land. It’s not for security reasons, it’s just a way to steal our land. They need to be stopped from killing the old trees, trees which are as old as the Roman Empire.”

The Bigger Picture:

IWPS believes that the Apartheid Wall is the concrete manifestation of the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and yet another method of carrying out a policy of expulsion and transfer of the Palestinian people.  It will incorporate into Israel a number of Palestinian villages and a huge portion of very fertile land full of olive groves, greenhouses, vegetable fields and water resources, continuing on a huge scale Israel’s policy of land annexation.  It will cut off other villages and towns from access to remaining farmland, and centres of trade, education and culture.  It will intensify the ongoing environmental destruction and degradation taking place in the occupied territories.  It will legitimize Israeli settlement policy.  It will mean the end of Palestinian autonomy and control. 

The Apartheid Wall, therefore, is not about ‘security’ or just another aspect of the Occupation.  Israeli officials have hinted that the planned expansion of the Apartheid Wall will provide the outline of the possible borders of a Palestinian ‘entity’ when the ‘road map’ is unveiled.  It cannot be at the negotiating table as the starting point for a ‘road map’ to peace since it will not bring peace and will destroy any possibility for creating a Palestinian state.

The war against Iraq, a rival of Israel for economic and political power in the region, and the intensification of the military occupation of the Palestinians are the means by which the U.S., Israel and their allies want to guarantee control over the Middle East as a whole.  It is no accident, therefore, that Ariel Sharon announced the expansion of the Apartheid Wall once the war against Iraq started.  It is no accident that the U.S. promised Israel additional billions of dollars in aid that will assist in building the wall at the same time as Sharon made his announcement.  They are hoping that the world will not pay attention to their plans and will say nothing as the Wall strangles life in one community after another in the West Bank and Gaza.

“It is a tragedy for all of humanity that such forms of oppression are done against the poor and the defenceless, all the while the oppressor is heard and believed as he justifies and cheats other nations and cultures.  And under the slogans of “security” and “terror” the crimes are committed.  How can people give their blessing to this oppressor, as he acquires the financial support to establish this Wall and to commit his crime.”  These are the words of the people in the district of Qalqiliya whose lives have been devastated by the Apartheid Wall

We are all aware how the Apartheid system in South Africa was intended to rob black South Africans of their social, economic and political freedom.  A military Occupation which manifests itself in an Apartheid Wall is attempting to do the same thing to the Palestinian people.  The fact that the Wall has been constructed without universal outrage even though it breaks international law and contravenes human rights principles, increases the responsibility of those who understand its real purpose to make sure the truth about the Apartheid Wall becomes clear to the world.  

For all of these reasons, Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals have united to camp out against the Apartheid Wall.

How will the wall affect the villages in Salfit?

Daba’a
Source: PENGON, 9th March, „An Open Letter To the International Agenencies and Organizations in Palestine Due to the Recent Escalation for the Construction of the Wall, by Jamal Juma´)

On the 24^th of February 2003, 250 explosives were found in Daba’a by the municipality. The explosives had been placed approximately 3 meters deep, on the village land, in order to clear a path for the Wall along the village´s rocky landscape. On average, the explosives were found to be located 50 meters away from the residents’ homes. They have the capacity to completely destroy 7 homes and partially destroy others.
20% of the community of Daba’a will be homeless. Only one third of the land of Daba’a remains with the village (700 dunums)

Habla
Confiscation of over 200 dunums of greenhouses, 70 dunums of irrigated lands and the artesian well, Al Yasminiya, which irrigates 300 dunums of Habla’s best agricultural land. 116 farmers have lost their land completely. The land of another 250 farmers will reside on the “other” side of the wall. Habla had 15 000 dunums of land and 9 artesian wells. To date, the Israeli military has confiscated 4 000 dunums of the village land and 4 of the wells

Azun Atme The wall will rob the school, that has existed for twenty years, of part of its playground. The toilets of the school will be demolished. The wall will completely encircle the village, where 270 dunums alone will be taken for the 7 kilometres of the actual wall. Eight houses belonging to Azun Atme, in which 9 families live, with a total of about 70 people, will remain outside of the wall and will be annexed to Israel.

Mas’ha Mas'ha is a border town very close to the Green Line. Until three years ago, it was the most flourishing trading market of the whole region. Three years ago, the main road connecting the West Bank to Israel was shut down, putting a complete stop to the economic activities of the area. The population of Mas’ha, which was mainly made up of traders, declined from 7000 to 2000 inhabitants.
The land belonging to Mas’ha is mainly cultivated with olive trees and comprises 6000 dunums. For the construction of the wall, 4000 dunums of land are being confiscated, leaving the village with 2000 dunums of predominantly residential land.
32 extended families will be affected by the wall - the entire village! Most of the families will lose about 50 dunums of land each, but the family of Ridha Amer will lose about 600 dunums of land.  Four houses might be demolished in the area.