15.5.03
Guardian excerpts of Sharon interview; article on Apartheid Wall
Sharon rejects US "pressure" over settlements and states that they will not be an issue when he meets with Bush on 20 May. Sharon also repeated his bizarre "abortion" comment.Another article on the impact of the Apartheid Wall Israel is building in (not along) the West Bank:
Ariel Sharon's government says the fence is temporary, but the political capital and money spent on it (£1m a mile) hint at permanence.Entirely true. How many millions have been sunk into the settlements? The roads serving them? All the other infrastructure? Does anyone in their right mind believe that all this was only temporary and that Israel always intended to hand over the West Bank?
In April, Mr Sharon told his cabinet he wanted to extend the "obstacle" to cover the length of the Jordan Valley so that any Palestinian state is enclosed behind Israeli barbed wire and motion detectors. The town of Qalqiliyah is already enclosed by a high wall, with a single exit under the army's control. The larger city of Tulkarm is destined for a similar fate. So is Azzun Atma.The West Bank is becoming the world's largest prison.
...
Mr Ahmad [an Azzun Atma villager] said: "The Israelis made a fence around the settlement, then they put in a small gate so we could get to our olive trees. They gave us the key and let us come and go for the first year. Then they changed the lock and put a guard on. But he doesn't come on the Sabbath and holidays and when he is sick. Then one day he doesn't come at all and you can't get to your land. Then they declare you are not working your land and seize it."
