THE WALL

I don't expect the ICJ's ruling condemning Israel's security wall to change anyone's mind about anything. It has only reinforced the siege mentality of Israel and Israel's partisans, and confirmed Israel's villainy for its critics, which is unfortunate.

Debates about the wall, like most debates concerning Israel, usually break down with both sides sticking hard to their exclusive premises, and refusing to hear anything else. In this case, the wall's proponents claim that the wall is needed to protect Israel from suicide bombers, and they are right. The wall's opponents claim that the wall is a land grab, and they, too, area right. The reason that I tend to sympathize with the anti-wall side of this debate (which includes many Israeli groups) is that I doubt there would be much controversy over the wall if Israel would just, you know, stop building it on someone else's land. The reason Israel has to build this fence inside Palestinian territory is to encircle the Jewish settlements which have been built there since 1967, and the stated purpose of the settlements was to facilitate precisely the annexation of West Bank land which is now happening.

Don't let anyone kid you, the settlements, and the continued military occupation which they make necessary, are currently the single most significant obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace. That isn't to say that if the occupation and settlements were gone tomorrow there wouldn't still be Palestinians advocating the destruction of Israel, but it would mean that there would be far fewer young men and women who would be willing to answer the call to martyrdom.