Israel’s Barrier to Peace; EU 'concerned' by Israel's separation wall in Bethlehem area

1948 Arab–Israeli War

The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence (Hebrew: העצמאות מלחמת or מלחמת

השחרור‎, Milkhemet Ha'atzma'ut or Milkhemet HA'sikhror) or War of Liberation (Hebrew: השחרור מלחמת‎,

Milkhemet Hashikhrur) – was the first in a series of wars fought between the State of Israel and its Arab neighbours

in the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict.

The war commenced upon the termination of the British Mandate of Palestine and the Israeli declaration of

independence on 15 May 1948, following a period of civil war in 1947–1948. The fighting took place mostly on the

former territory of the British Mandate and for a short time also in the Sinai Peninsula and southern Lebanon.[1]

Much of what Arabs refer to as The Catastrophe (Arabic: ﺍﻟﻨﻜﺒﺔ‎, al-Nakba) occurred amidst this war.

The war concluded with the 1949 Armistice Agreements.

Background

Proposed separation of Palestine.

Following World War II, on May 14, 1948, the British Mandate of

Palestine came to an end. The surrounding Arab nations were also

emerging from colonial rule. Transjordan, under the Hashemite ruler

Abdullah I, gained independence from Britain in 1946 and was called

Jordan, but it remained under heavy British influence. Egypt, while

nominally independent, signed the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 that

included provisions by which Britain would maintain a garrison of

troops on the Suez Canal. From 1945 on, Egypt attempted to

renegotiate the terms of this treaty, which was viewed as a humiliating

vestige of colonialism. Lebanon became an independent state in 1943,

but French troops would not withdraw until 1946, the same year that

Syria won its independence from France.

DIG DIRECTOR Chris Hedges, whose column is published Mondays on Truthdig, spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The... PHOTO Palestinians watch as workers install eight-meter-high concrete panels to build a wall, part of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank town of Abu Dis, on the outskirts of east Jerusalem in July 2004. Photo: AP / Lefteris Pitarakis                                                            Jul 25, 2006 - RELATED LINKS Wikipedia entryon Israel's barrier wall Current statisticson the wall's scope and impact (from B'tselem, a leading Israeli human rights organization) The green areas of the above map show West Bank territory that falls behind the barrier wall. Click herefor a larger version. Click herefor a much more detailed (and current) map of the barrier's current boundaries and projected course (.pdf file).

Israel’s Barrier to Peace

Editor’s note: In this Dig, the former Middle East bureau chief for The New York Times and author of the bestseller “War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning” examines the way Israel’s security wall has ripped a mortal gash in the lives of Palestinians living in its shadow, and argues that there can be no hope for peace in the Middle East as long as America continues to aid Israel in its dehumanizing practices.

The rage and extremism of the Islamic militants in Lebanon and the occupied territories in the West Bank and Gaza appear incomprehensible to the outside world.  The wanton murder, the raw anti-Semitism, the callous disregard for human life, including the lives of children and other innocents, permit those on the outside to thrust these militant fighters in another moral universe, to certify them as incomprehensible.

But this branding of these militants as something less than human, as something that reasonable people cannot hope to understand, is possible only because we have ignored and disregarded the decades of repression, the crushing weight of occupation, the abject humiliation and violence, unleashed on Lebanese and Palestinians by Israel because of our silence and indifference.  It is the Israeli penchant for violence and occupation that slowly created and formed these frightening groups.

The Cremisan Valley in Beit Jala is under threat from construction
of Israel's separation wall.

EU 'concerned' by Israel's separation wall in Bethlehem area BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The European Union on Friday expressed concern about the ongoing construction of Israel's separation wall in the Bethlehem area. "The EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah are concerned by the construction of the Separation Barrier, east of the Green Line, in the Cremisan Valley (Beit Jala)," a statement read. "When completed along the planned route, the barrier will separate 58 families from their agricultural land and children from their school at the Salesian convent, as well as affect the religious site of the Cremisan Monastery." In 2004, the International Court of Justice called on Israel to stop construction of the separation wall within the occupied West Bank.