Sliced in two by Israel's barrier, Abu Dis fears a slow death

By Sophie Claudet

Agence France Presse

19 January 2004

ABU DIS, West Bank, Jan 19-- Residents of Abu Dis, once tipped to be the capital of a future Palestinian state, are struggling to cope with the imposing wall carving through their village, separating families and friends and making nearby Jerusalem an unattainable dream.

"My house is 30 meters (yards) away but it's on the other side of the wall. I have to drive 25 kilometers (15 miles) to go back and forth," said Yakin al-Rajabi, who owns a carpentry workshop in the village on the edge of occupied east Jerusalem.

His shop stands directly opposite the vast West Bank separation barrier being constructed by Israel, which in many places cuts deep into Palestinian territory prompting accusations it is not security-motivated but a unilateral bid to grab land and pre-empt the borders of a future Palestinian state.

"Israel wants to destroy the Palestinian economy. My clients mostly came from east Jerusalem and will no longer take the trouble," he sighed.

In its current form, the barrier -- now referred to by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office as the "the anti-terror fence" – is to stretch 730 kilometres (450 miles) although there are calls for the route to be changed.

Israel says the barrier will stop infiltrations by militants planning to attack, although critics warn it could serve to radicalizePalestinians already struggling to live under military

blockades.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague is to hold a hearing next month to issue an opinion on the legality of the barrier following a request by the UN General Assembly.

One of Rajabi's workers said the barrier is seeking to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

"Israel dreams that we will never see or set foot in Jerusalem again but this won't happen," said Samih Shuweiki. "There are ways to get around the wall even if it's extremly risky. One day, there will be peace and this wall will come down."

A short distance away, the muddy ground was being flattened by a compressor to prepare for the addition of more eight-meter (26-foot) cement blocks to a wall as high as a three-storey building.

Residents said the army told them the barrier in Abu Dis will be completed within 10 days, but those working on its construction here -- ironically all of the Palestinians -- refused to comment.

"You can't blame them for building the wall," local resident Hazem Sharbati said of the Palestinian workmen. "They need the money."

At a Christian retirement home which will soon find itself on the Israeli side of the barrier, sister Marie Dominique Croyal was in disarray.

"Our elderly patients' families can't visit anymore because most of them are from the West Bank," she said.

"No truck will be able to access our home and deliver food. I don't even know if ambulances will manage to reach us," she said, adding that there was no access road large enough for vehicles to approach the Home of Our Lady of Sorrows, which is affiliated to the French Catholic church.

Croyal said she did not know if gates enabling people to cross would be installed as is the case in other parts of the West Bank.

"Even so, we will be at the mercy of the army if and when the soldiers decide to open the gates," she said.

She said most of her staff hold West Bank identification papers and cannot legally reach their place of work, now part of annexed east Jerusalem.

Sister Angel Yacoub, a nurse by training, said work on the wall was continuing day and night and that the deafening noise of drills and compressors frightened the home's elderly pensioners.

"It's like an earthquake. They use blinding spotlights at night. Water pipes and electricity poles have been damaged," she said.

Aniseh Mazkis, a 73-year-old pensioner, said she was longing for her son's visits.

"It's been two weeks he did not come because of the wall. He's my only son," she cried.

Sitting in an office without electricity or a telephone, Hashem Abu Hilal, a teacher of urban planning at al-Quds University, said bitterly that Sharon had succeeded in fulfilling his visions.

"Sharon is a great architect and urban planner. He is realizing his master plan: taking more of the West Bank, appropriating the whole of Jerusalem and destroying the Palestinian people," he said.