Manchester shoppers came face to face with the apartheid West Bank style on Saturday 12 July, when over 200 local activists demonstrated the impact of the huge Security Wall being built by the Israeli Government on Palestinian land.
Building their own wall across Albert Square from cardboard boxes the WALL DOWN! demonstration raised public awareness about the construction of the Security Wall.
Bigger than the Berlin Wall, the planned barrier is 370miles long, 25feet high and 12feet wide. It is being built on the Palestinian side of the 'Green Line' - the armistice line created after the 1967 war, which divides Israel and the Occupied Territories.
There are more photographs of that action here - Video 56k | Photos | High bandwidth Video
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A United Nations official, Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast, told the UN Security Council in June that the wall "potentially separates tens of thousands of Palestinians from their agricultural lands, wells, markets, schools, health clinics and hospitals.
"By the end of July, 12,000 Palestinians in 15 villages could find themselves wedged between the wall and the Green Line," he said. "A further 138,000 Palestinians in 16 localities could be surrounded on three sides by the wall." *
About 20 miles of the wall has been completed, with a further 100miles partly built. This story has gone virtually unreported by the British Media.This event was organised by an independent group of Manchester-based activists, many of whom have spent time in Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and other peaceful organisations. The demonstration is supported by a wide range of organisations including CND and Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Greater Manchester Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Muslim Feminist Network, Islamic Society, Muslim Association of Britain and others.
*Kieran Prendergrast quote taken from Associated Press story, published on www.palestinemonitor.org (accessed 6 July 2003).
B'Tselem, The Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories estimates that the planned route of the wall will directly harm over 210,000 Palestinians living in sixty-seven towns, villages, and cities. 11,700 Palestinians living in 13 communities will be imprisoned in isolated enclaves to the west of the barrier, 128,500 residents from 19 communities will be in enclaves to the east of the barrier, and tens of thousands Palestinians will be separated from their farmland. (from: www.btselem.org accessed 6 July 2003).
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