UPDATE. Ni'lin does it again: Tear Down The Wall! ... 4 articles + 2 VIDEO

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Twenty years after Berlin, Palestinians crack Israel's wall

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B-side Beirut

wall? what wall?

by Ms. Tee

I was still a child when the Berlin wall came crashing down, but I clearly remember the images — some of which are replaying today — when they first appeared on TV in 1989. They made a huge impression on those of us living the last few years of a civil war, which at the time seemed to have no end in sight. The fall of the wall was an emblematic moment which helped many imagine a possible future when east and west could come together in a warring Lebanon as well. When the war ended and people met each other across the Mathaf crossing in Beirut, comparisons with that Berlinesque moment were inevitable. The lingering effects of the division on Germany notwithstanding, the images from 1989 continue to inspire. Here is to the day this other wall comes crashing down!



Nilin, Palestine (Bernat Armangue, AP)




Qalandya, Palestine (Yannis Behrakis, Reuters)

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7-11-2009
Bethlehem - Marking the 20th anniversary since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Palestinians tore down a section of Israel's wall in the West Bank village of Ni'lin on Friday.

During a weekly protest against the barrier, which cuts through the Ramallah-area village's center and isolates residents from 60 percent of their farmland, some 300 demonstrators methodically dismantled a concrete section before Israeli forces opened fire.

"When one concrete part started to come down partially, the Israeli army arrived and started shooting large amounts of tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and even live ammunition," said organizer Ahmad Mesleh. "Dozens of soldiers came through the gate and are currently following the demonstration into the village."

Mesleh said protesters first gathered in front of Ni'lin's health clinic, where they prepped supplies and marched toward the wall. They burned tires and removed an eight-meter concrete slab with a hydraulic car-jack.

"Twenty years ago, no one imagined that the monstrosity that divided Berlin would ever be taken down, but it took only two days to do it," participant Muhib Hawaja told the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

"Today we proved that we too can pull it off, right here and right now. That is our land beyond the barrier, and we have no intention of ceding it. We will triumph because justice is on our side," he added.

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Al Jazeera

Palestinians break Israel's wall
Masked activists used a lorry to tear down a cement block of the wall [AFP]

9-11-2009
Palestinians and foreign activists have torn down segments of Israel's separation wall in a demonstration marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In the town of Qalandiya in the occupied West Bank, a group of masked activists using a lorry pulled down a two-metre cement block before Israeli security forces confronted them with tear gas grenades.

Several of the estimated 50 demonstrators passed through the hole they had made, hoisting a Palestinian flag and setting ablaze tyres on the other side.

Protesters were wearing shirts with the text "Jerusalem we are coming", which was the slogan for the protest.

Abdullah Abu Rahma, leader of the People's Campaign to Fight the Wall, said: "Today we commemorate 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

"This is the beginning of the activities, which we do, to express our hold on our land, and our refusal to this wall - the wall of torture, the wall of humiliation."

Activists have vowed to hold a week of protests in the Palestinian territories and around the world, including a campaign calling for the release of all anti-wall activists currently imprisoned.

Last Friday, Palestinian youths almost toppled a segment of wall using a hydraulic car-jack in the West Bank village of Nilin.

Regular protests

Protests against the wall have become a regular events in Nilin and in the nearby village of Bilin, where Palestinian, international and Israeli activists are commonly confronted by tear gas and rubber bullets fired by Israeli troops.

Israel began building its barrier, consisting of fences and walls, in 2002, citing security reasons.

The wall is up to 8m high in places, twice the height of the former Berlin wall. Palestinian sources anticipate that it may be more than 750km-long when construction is finished, more than four times the length of the Berlin wall.

Palestinians say the route of the wall has been set in such a way that it grabs land that could have been included in a future Palestinian state.

The International Court of Justice, in a non-binding decision in 2004, said the Israeli-built barrier was illegal and should be taken down because it crossed into occupied territory.

A report by Stop the Wall, a Palestinian coalition of NGOs opposed to the wall, said that in 2007 alone, Israel demolished more than 160 houses and appropriated more than 3sq km of land in the Palestinian West Bank in its construction of the wall.

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BBC

Palestinians celebrate as they break through Israel's West Bank barrier

Palestinians and foreign peace activists have broken apart a section of the West Bank barrier.

They used ropes and at least one truck to pull down some of the concrete blocks forming the Israeli-built wall.

The activists carried out the protest to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The barrier, which separates Israel from the West Bank, is a mixture of fences, barbed wire, ditches and concrete slabs up to 8m (26ft) high.

Israeli armed police, who are reported to have arrived shortly afterwards, are believed to have used tear gas to force the activists to stop.

Incomplete

Abdullah Abu Rahma, who helped co-ordinate the action at Qalandiya near Ramallah, said the event was deliberately timed to coincide with the German anniversary.

He said the aim was to help the Palestinian people to get to Jerusalem, the Reuters news agency said.

"This is the beginning of the activities, which we do, to express our hold on our land, and our refusal to this wall - the wall of torture, the wall of humiliation."

The Israeli government approved the construction of the wall, although around 30% of it is still due to be completed.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued an advisory ruling that the barrier was illegal and should be removed.

Israel's official position is that the barrier is a security fence, defending its citizens from attacks by Palestinians.

The Palestinians, on the other hand, view it as as a land grab as the route of the wall cuts deep into the West Bank in places.

Only 15% of the barrier follows the Green Line, the internationally recognised boundary between the West bank and Israel.

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