A moment later, a teenage boy approached me as I was taking photos and asked me my name and where I was from. I cringed admitting I was American for "financed with U.S. aid at a cost of $1.5 million per mile, the Israeli wall prevents residents from receiving health care and emergency medical services. In other areas, the barrier separates farmers from their olive groves which have been their families' sole livelihood for generations." [1]
On 9 July 2004, the International Court of Justice/ICJ, ruled that The Wall was illegal that it must come down and also that compensation should be paid to all who have been affected.
The ICJ Judges also decided 13-2 that signatories to the Geneva Convention were obliged to enforce "compliance by Israel with international humanitarian law" and the U.N. General Assembly also passed a resolution 150-6 supporting the ICJ's call to dismantle the wall." [2]
Less than a five-minute car drive from Anata, I entered into an Orwellian Disney Land Colony of lush green grounds called the Pizgat Ze'ev settlement.
All the settlements/colonies in the West Bank are illegal under international law.
I was sick at heart as I traveled through the colony and counted three playgrounds and a swimming pool and wondered how many USA tax dollars helped to build them.
Within fifteen minutes after leaving Anata, as I stood next to a playground in Pizgat Ze'ev, a barrage of gunshots issued from the refugee camp and my guide informed me that the Israeli soldiers were showering the refugees with gunfire and terror, which is a "normal' daily occurrence for them.
I lost it completely and sobbed uncontrollably, as I imagined the Magdalena did when she could not find her Lord.
And then I thought how Jesus cried buckets of tears over Jerusalem when he "saw the city, he wept over it and said, 'If you had only known what would bring you peace but it is hidden from your eyes.'"- Luke 19:42
Lady Justice, the Roman Goddess of Justice, an allegorical personification of the moral force of justice is depicted wearing a blindfold to indicate that justice should be meted out objectively, not based in favor of- or against- ethnicity, power, or weakness, but on blind impartiality.
Following Sunday's court ruling, the Aramin family's lawyer told the Ynet news website: "We are happy that justice has come to light and are still working to award the family compensation for all the suffering it has gone through. [Aramin] is a peace activist whose attitude has not changed since the incident. That is one positive aspect of this story."
Another positive aspect of this story is that the state of Israel has admitted responsibility.
- Washington Report on Middle East Affairs , Jan/Feb. 2007
- Washington Report on Middle East Affairs , July 2009
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