Israel plans to imprison five Palestinian villages near Jerusalem

[Scurrilous]

Full title: 2 March 2006: Israel plans to imprison five Palestinian villages near Jerusalem in an enclave.

<snip>

"Israel plans to run a barrier around five Palestinian villages northwest of Jerusalem , and imprison them in an enclave that will separate them from East Jerusalem and neighboring Palestinian villages. The five villages in the enclave are Beit Hanina al-Balad (1,400 residents), Bir Nabala (6,100), al-Jib (4,600), al-Judeira (2,100), and Qalandiya (1,200), which have a total population of more than 15,000 persons (hereafter: the Bir Nabala enclave).

The route of the separation barrier in this area runs next to the three main roads that border the enclave, and will prevent residents of the enclave from using them. Thus, these roads will be "For Israeli Use Only." The roads are Route 45 North, Route 436 West, and Route 404 (Begin North)East. In the section southwest of the enclave, the route runs along the boundary of the planned Nebi Samuel Metropolitan Park , which will serve residents of Jerusalem and nearby settlements. The planning scheme for the park has already been approved.

To prevent the complete isolation of the enclave, Israel announced that it intended to build two alternate roads that will link the enclave to the rest of the West Bank . One will connect the enclave with Ramallah, which lies to its north, and run under Route 45. The other road will connect al-Jib to Bido, which lies to its west, by means of three underground passageways and two bridges. Construction of this road will require complex engineering work and will cost tens of millions of shekels, so it is likely that the project will take a long time to complete, if it is indeed completed.


Even assuming that these two roads are built, construction of the barrier around the Bir Nabala enclave will severely impair the human rights of its residents. The main reason is that the barrier will separate them from East Jerusalem , on which the residents have always been dependent in all aspects of their lives. Thousands of the enclave's residents hold Israeli identity cards and are entitled by law to free access to the city. In place of the connection with Jerusalem , Israel plans to force on the residents an artificial connection with Ramallah."


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[Tom Joad]

1. Welcome to the Bantustans!

Is it apartheid yet?

[madrchsod]

2. kind`a looks like it doesn`t it?

but don`t say anything bad about it cause they are our best friends in the middle east.

[Wordie]

3. Just a reminder...

[Tom Joad]

4. Important info, wordie. Isn't amazing that

this map represents the violence Israel is doing to Palestinians. the majority of that violence is not by bloodletting, it is by taking land (and often destroying homes or farmland or important water sources) that are vital to the needs of the Palestinian people.

Palestinians are being killed "softly". When a nation such as Israel, which most valuable commodity is its Public Relations (for which it is rewarded generously by the United States taxpayers...thanks to our compliant Congress), it's not like Israeli military can just go and gather Palestinians and load them on trucks and transfer them all to Jordan (though there are political parties that favor that).

This plan accomplishes the complete marginalization and destruction of Palestinian society that is much more subtle, though just as real.