The massive Wall being built by the Israelis inside the West Bank was found by the International Court of Justice to be in clear violation of International Law, affecting Palestinian people’s freedom of movement and rights to work, education, health, food and water (July 2004).
Abu Dis suffers particularly badly from the Wall which goes right through the town, affecting every aspect of life, distorting the economy and dividing neighbourhoods and hundreds of families. Some people have papers that let them – young and old – clamber over dangerous gaps under the eyes of Israeli soldiers, or travel miles east to come on a long road west. Others are completely cut off from the rest of Jerusalem.
Very bad news for Abu Dis is that Israel is not only continuing to build the wall to the west in the face of the ICJ judgement, but intends to build a wall also on the east of the town, taking more land to add to Maale Adumim and other settlements.
Read the International Court of Justice ruling on the wall below:
- CADFA wall leaflet pdf
- ICJ advisory opinion
- West Bank barrier ruling – Key points
- Building the wall – pictures of the construction of the Wall around Abu Dis from 2003
- UNRWA report on impact of the Wall
pdf - Photos of the Wall 1
- Photos of the Wall 2
- BBC: Building a barrier through Abu Dis – photo gallery with audio commentary
- Pictures of the Wall on both sides
- “Sweet smell of Abu Dis” [BBC, 19 Nov]
- Abu Dis Report – a film by Tamar Goldschmidt
- Video [2004] : a priest protests against the building of the wall in Abu Dis
- “Walled Horizons” – video on the humanitarian impact of the West Bank Wall. Click for Part 1 and Part 2 of the Arabic version and Part 1 and Part 2 of the English version.
- UN report: “East Jerusalem : The Humanitarian Impact of the West Bank Barrier” (July 2007)
- Picture sequence of the Wall
- Look for The Iron Wall – a film directed by Mohammed Alatar
