The Apartheid Wall Purpose in Jerusalem

The Apartheid Wall, or the West Bank Barrier erected by Israel in Jerusalem aims to achieve the Greater Jerusalem according to a future Israeli vision.^[1] in 1967, Israel drew the municipale boundaries of Great Jerusalem which extended beyond the annexed lands of east Jerusalem to include all the surroundings of the city. The drawn boundaries had no practical implications until the wall was constructed around the city; now Jerusalem is totally isolated from the West Bank with a route that followed the 1967 drawn municipale boundaries.^[2] In 2017, the Israeli government introduced two bills to the Israeli knesset; a bill of “Jerusalem the Capital of Israel” in a 2nd amendment to the Israeli Basic Law and a “Greater Jerusalem” bill. both of the suggested bills include an alteration to Jerusalem’s borders to annex the surrounding settlements and displace around 140.000 Palestinians residents of Jerusalem living in surrounding neighborhoods already separated from Jerusalem by the wall.^[3]

Although the wall construction cuts off the West Bank and isolates it–Israeli law maintains the unification between the municipal boundaries of the city of Jerusalem as its capital. All subways between the West Bank and Jerusalem were closed and replaced by entry points under the supervision of the Israeli police, and a policy of tight restrictions continue to apply to Palestinians seeking entrance into the city.^[4]

In addition to depriving Palestinians from establishing their own country through parting the land and depriving the Palestinian authority from practicing its power and sovereignty over it, the wall has many negative effects on the daily life of palestinian citizens in the social, educational, medical, geographical, and political sense.in West Bank and East Jerusalem.^[5]

In 2002, the implementation of the plan to build the wall started. until now the wall is incomplete, 65.3 percent (465 km) is done,^[6] once complete it will cover 700 kilometers mostly^[7] in the West Bank, dividing neighborhoods, destroying homes, and isolating 20,000 Palestinians from their surroundings and communities.^[8] Under the pretext of security measures one of the most dangerous settlement plans began with a real intention to annex around 52,667.7 hectares of the land of the West Bank including those that were most fertile and rich in water other than the lands already annexed to the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. ^[9]

The Shu’fat refugee camp and the town of Kafr Aqeb, which originally lie within the Jerusalem municipal boundaries, were isolated from Jerusalem leaving 140,000 Jerusalemites^[10] unable to enter except through entry points that include rigorously guarded checkpoints like the one at Qalandia.^[11] on the other hand, in three different areas of Jerusalem the wall extends beyond the drawn municipale boundaries annexing further lands and surrounding settlements and achieving the more land less Palestinians Jerusalem through an area of 202 kilometers of Jerusalem lands.^[12] This wall around Jerusalem sealed it completely and is currently known by “The Jerusalem Envelope”.^[13] Inhabitants of the arab villages and towns do not have access to areas on the other side of the wall like the settlers in East Jerusalem or Maaleh Adumim in the West Bank do.^[14]

Israel constructed the wall around Jerusalem with a stated goal of preventing violent attacks by Palestinians against Israelis; however, the following resulted from this construction:^[15]

• Isolating East Jerusalem from the West Bank in order to the establish Great Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.^[16]
• Displacing Jerusalem Arab population and deporting them elsewhere.
• Enclose Jerusalem’s arab population in small neighborhoods that are surrounded by settlements and are not viable for growth or development demographically, economically, socially or politically.
• Creating a Jewish majority in East Jerusalem by establishing settlements and constructing tourist and industrial areas to encourage the Jewish migration to the eastern part of the city.
• Maintaining the Israeli domination of the holy places and forbidding Arabs and Muslims from reaching them.
• Stopping the demographic growth of the Palestinians and restricting it to a specific area under control and surveillance.^[17]
• Expanding settlement activity in agricultural lands that are rich in water.^[18]
• Promoting the Jewishness of the state and isolating all that is not Jewish in a game of manipulating demographic balance. ^[19]