Amnesty International-Wall of injustice

The Amnesty International has handed a letter with some 130,000 signatures to the Israeli embassy in Madrid demanding the Jewish state halt construction of its West Bank separation barrier.

“On November 9, 1989, there was the fall of the Berlin wall, known as the “wall of shame”,” Amnesty International said in a statement. “Eighteen years later, another wall, the wall of “injustice”, follows. This one is Israeli and divides the Occupied Territories, isolating towns and villages.”

The organisation said the letter addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was signed by more than 130,000 people by mail and over the Internet.

It “calls on him to halt construction of the West Bank wall, including in East Jerusalem, demolish the stretch already built and repair the damage caused,” said the statement, written in Spanish.

As the letter was delivered, activists outside the embassy unfurled a banner reading:

“The West Bank wall is illegal and violates human rights. More than 130,000 people call on Israel to demolish the unjust wall.”
Israel says its massive “security” barrier, made of electric fencing, barbed wire and concrete walls, is needed to stop potential attackers infiltrating the country and Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

But the Palestinians denounce it as an “apartheid wall” aimed at grabbing their land and undermining the viability of their promised state.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice issued a non-binding ruling that parts of the 650-kilometre barrier criss-crossing the West Bank are illegal and should be torn down.