Behind the Wall

By Chuleenan Svetvilas, AlterNet. Posted July 22, 2005.

For the past three years, the Israeli government has been building a wall through the West Bank and around Jerusalem in order to, it claims, combat Palestinian terrorist attacks. But Palestinians and other critics say Israel is using the wall as a means to annex Palestinian territory. French-Israeli filmmaker Simone Bitton focuses on the impact of the wall's construction in her new documentary, titled simply, Wall.

The Israeli wall was initially approved by the Israeli Defense Cabinet in 2001. At that time, according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense (MOD), the "security fence" was intended "to prevent illegal entry into Israel through the seizure, interrogation and arrest of [terrorist and criminal] elements" and to be constructed in three separate areas for a total of 80 kilometers. However, the MOD determined that in order for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and police to operate more effectively, "a contiguous obstacle" was necessary. That is what remains under construction today.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), which refers to the wall as the "anti-terrorist fence," says it will eventually be 720 kilometers or 480 miles long -- nine times the length of the original plan. Parts of it include huge concrete sections, electronic chain-link fences, razor wire, paved patrol roads, dirt roads, and ditches -- all of which are under constant surveillance by the Israeli army.

A number of international bodies have criticized the construction of the wall. Amnesty International said the majority of the wall is being built on Palestinian land, "separating farmers from their land and Palestinians from their places of work, health care facilities and other essential services." In 2003, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said construction of the wall should cease. The following year, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion that the wall was "contrary to international law" and that Israel should "cease forthwith the works of construction of the wall being built in the Occupied Palestinian Territory." Writer Noam Chomsky has called the wall a "land grab."

Meanwhile, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that "the route of the fence has been determined on the basis of security needs and topographical considerations" and that it is a "temporary defensive measure, not a border." (For an Israeli map of the wall, visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Defense.)

But "wall" is an inadequate word to describe the immense barrier that Israel is constructing. It is also a contested word, as the Israeli government insists that the majority of the obstacle is a chain-link fence, not just the tall concrete blocks that have received media attention. Wall may not be an accurate word, but "fence" is too innocuous to describe what is under construction.

Simone Bitton's 100-minute-long documentary, Wall, takes a personal and contemplative look at the wall's effect so far on the people and the landscape. Born in Morocco to a Jewish family, Bitton has both French and Israeli citizenship and speaks several languages, including Arabic, French, and Hebrew. She decided to make the film after she saw a television news report in 2002, announcing the wall's construction.

"The very idea of a wall erected between Israelis and Palestinians tore me apart," recalls Bitton. "I had the feeling that I was being cut in half, that who I am was being denied -- an Arab Jew whose entire being is the site of a permanent dialogue."

Chuleenan Svetvilas is a freelance writer who lives in Oakland, CA. Her writings on film have appeared in Dox, International Documentary, and Release Print magazines.

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