The Battle for the West Bank and East Jerusalem

Last week marked the one year anniversary of the

International Court of Justice decision declaring the

construction of the Separation Wall in East Jerusalem

and the Occupied Palestinian Territories illegal.

On July 9th of 2004, the Court found that Israel was

obligated to stop construction and dismantle the Wall.

It ruled that Israel must "return the land, orchards,

olive groves and other immovable property seized from

any natural or legal person for purposes of

construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian

Territories."

It found that Israel’s severe restrictions on movement

violated both international human rights and

humanitarian law.

When completed, the Wall will be 832 km or twice the

length of the Green Line. Even with a new Israeli

approved route, over 80 percent of the Wall’s route

remains inside the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

On March 21st of 2005, Israel approved plans to build

3,500 new housing units between Jerusalem and the

settlement of Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem.

As the Gaza withdrawal unfolds in the next few months

and much is made of Israel’s decision to move

unilaterally, the spectre of real peace is nowhere on

the horizon. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s successful

bullying of the legislative agenda and appeasement of

the settlement lobby has been carried through from the

beginning as a fait accompli. Sharon has been a

master at buying time from the US in order to

implement an aggressive settlement policy in East

Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Though he has beat back the forces of the far right

wing that have been his traditional base of support,

he has actively created a situation on the ground

under his leadership that is untenable, unsustainable

and could very well lead to the kind of international

ostracization that will do real damage to Israel in

the long term.

Since Arafat’s death and the signing of a cease-fire

agreement, Mahmoud Abbas has now been vilified by the

Israelis as the man who can’t be trusted. It doesn’t

matter who the Palestinians put forward. Added to

this is the possibility of Hamas and other Islamic

political parties gaining a stronger foothold in

upcoming parliamentary elections.

Since Arafat is no longer the Palestinian bogeyman for

the West, it will no doubt be someone else.

US President Bush has created a framework under the

Roadmap to Peace which has given Sharon the kind of

time he needs to develop a new reality on the ground

in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. A final status

agreement under these circumstances will never be

possible.

Under US demands for democracy, transparency and

security, they have handcuffed a Palestinian regime

under Occupation from having any of the legitimate

tools to govern and police their own affairs.

A weakened Palestinian state with a stalled

negotiation process and militants acting outside of

state authority has in the Initifada years worked to

Israel’s strategic advantage. One need not look any

further than the situation in East Jerusalem or the

West Bank today to understand this.

The Gaza Withdrawal should hardly be seen as an

Israeli gesture for peace - there has been a

catastrophe in its wake. Additionally, the

application of international law has been impractical,

weakly applied and has had little bearing on the

outcome in the conflict. It has proven to be an

ineffective tool in forcing Israel to comply with its

human rights obligations or bringing about an end to

the Occupation. Tacit US and European Union support

has more often than not bolstered provocative Israeli

development policies in the West Bank and East

Jerusalem.

When it comes to land confiscation and settlement

expansion, Israel has done well under the Second

Intifada and the Palestinians are in a diminished

position since September 2000. Violence has yet to

bring about peace just as a cease-fire has yet to

bring about peace.

And so on it goes.

As long as the Israeli mainstream is hopelessly out of

touch, smug in its place and extremely gifted at

looking the other way, Ariel Sharon will continue to

steamroll through his agenda like a school yard bully

until a political movement can gain strength and shape

a new reality. They have much to gain by shifting

from their entrenchment.

Until the Israeli mainstream gets behind ending the

Occupation, the maneuvers of diplomacy will merely be

photo ops and press statements devoid of meaning. The

goal posts will always seem to be shifting.

Nobody should be under any illusions - as long as

George W. Bush is President of the US and Ariel Sharon

is the Israeli Prime Minister, there will be no

lasting peace.

The Palestinians alone will never be in a position to

force a lasting deal on peace. The Americans and the

Israelis will always have to be dragged there kicking

and screaming.

There are still dark days ahead in this conflict.