Campaign to stop construction of wall around East Jerusalem

As the International Court of Justice considers a UN request to issue an opinion on Israel's apartheid wall between itself and the West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli citizens are campaigning to try to stop the construction of a further wall around East Jerusalem. The A-Ram Wall is planned but is not yet built. A-Ram is located north of Jerusalem. 100,000 Palestinians, most of whom have Jerusalem identity cards, live in this area and for them Jerusalem is the centre of all business, educational, medical, and cultural life. If Israel is allowed to go ahead with construction the wall will surround A-Ram on all sides - create a second 'Warsaw Ghetto'. In order to enter or leave the town residents will have to pass through gates. The entire area will become one big prison. This new part of the wall, to be built in the middle of the major Jerusalem-Ramallah road, will entirely separate A-Ram from Jerusalem. One side of the road will be located in Israel; the other side will belong to the West Bank. The wall will indiscriminately separate families, isolate the sick from hospitals, prevent employees from reaching their workplace, and students from their schools and universities. The wall will mean that those residents still able to go to Jerusalem will now have to first travel north up one side of the road to pass through the Qalandiya checkpoint to then travel back south down the other side of the road. The increased volume of people having to now pass through Qalandiya will inevitably increase the time spent waiting in line. With winter fast approaching and the rains which turn the checkpoint into a mud bath the prospect of this daily ordeal will make life a living hell for thousands. A great many Palestinian, Christian and Jewish organisations are working together to prevent this and many other sections of the wall from being built. On Saturday December 13, at 11am the residents of A-Ram along with support from The National Union of Arab Students, the Israeli Peace Bloc, Gush Shalom and a number of other peace and activist groups will march together on the route of the wall. They will march under the banner: "No to the apartheid wall! And yes to living together in peace!" Source: Palestinian Monitor