In June 2002, Israel began building a massive wall through Palestine's West Bank, a wall designed to physically separate Palestinians and Israelis from one another. Falsely termed a "security barrier" by the Israeli military, the Wall is part of the largest land grab Israel has launched since it occupied the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem in 1967. Israel has used the Wall's construction to take over the lands of dozens of Palestinian communities and to solidify the occupation. The Wall is dividing Palestinian cities, towns and villages, trapping Palestinians in open-air prisons reminiscent of apartheid South Africa and depriving them of access to their livelihoods, markets, hospitals, and schools. When completed, the Wall will in effect annex nearly 50% of the West Bank to Israel. Without active U.S. political and financial support, Israel would not be able to build this Wall and pursue its land grab.

November 9th, 2003, kicked off a week of international education and action to stop the Wall. The communities affected by the Wall, under the umbrella of the Palestinian-led campaign against the Wall, declared November 9th the “International Day Against the Wall” to coincide with the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In response to a call from the Palestinian Environmental NGO Network [PENGON] and Palestine Monitor, United for Peace and Justice worked closely with the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation to promote, publicize, and coordinate several actions around the U.S. on November 9th.

This date was also the sixty-fifth anniversary of Kristallnacht, the day rampaging mobs attacked Jews in the streets of Germany, Austria, and Poland, in their homes and at their places of work and worship. On November 9, 2003, thousands across the globe paused to remember those whose rights have been taken from them and stood up for freedom from occupation and equal rights for all.

THINGS YOU CAN DO TO MAKE THE WALL FALL

1. Distribute fact sheets about the Wall to raise awareness of the issue in your community. Download facts sheets here.

2. Organize a demonstration, vigil, teach-in, or street theater to highlight the devastating consequences of the Wall for Palestinians living in the West Bank.

3. Distribute an activist resource packet entitled "The Wall Defeats the Roadmap." Download this online packet put together by the Boston-Area Working Group on the Wall.

4. Gather signatures to protest the Wall. Download a petition here.

5. Construct a Mock Wall to draw attention to your public event and to dramatize its impact. Click here for instructions on how to build a replica of the Wall.

6. Download a PowerPoint presentation with maps of the Wall and an analysis of its political, economic, and social implications. The presentation can be used effectively for teach-ins or public speaking events.

7. Contact the White House, State Department, and your Members of Congress and demand that the United States deduct money from Israel’s loan guarantees to match the amount of money that Israel is spending on the Wall and other illegal settlement activities in the Palestinian occupied territories. Click here for talking points and contact information.

8. Print t-shirts against the Wall. Download a t-shirt design reading "Stop the Wall in Palestine" here.

9. Sign up to receive email updates about the Wall. Subscribe to a listserve run by the Stop the Wall Campaign.

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Stop the Wall! Campaign
Electronic Intifada
Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions
Palestine Monitor
A Jewish Voice for Peace

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