ABU DIS, West Bank, 8 February 2004 — Nearly 3,000 protesters, including both Palestinians and Israelis, rallied here yesterday against the Jewish state’s controversial West Bank separation barrier.
“No to apartheid,” “The wall creates a prison for Palestinians, a ghetto for Israel,” the demonstrators chanted, many of them waving Palestinian flags.
The protest was jointly organized by two Israeli peace groups, Gush Shalom and the bicommunal organization Tayush, and was backed by all Palestinian factions except the more extremist Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The Palestinians charge that the separation barrier, which in places juts deep into the West Bank, is a deliberate attempt to pre-empt the borders of their promised state.
But Israel insists that the fence is a essential part of its defenses against suicide bombings and other attacks carried out frequently by Palestinian militant groups.
