The open ended hunger strike declared by the Arab Member of Knesset Dr. Azmi Bishara enters its third day in the protest tent set up near Al-Ram area north of Jerusalem close the construction site of the wall to protest against building the wall.
Hundreds of the Jerusalem area and many others from different areas visited the tent to express solidarity with Bishara and the rest of the protestors and to express their rejection to the wall as well.
This hunger strike comes few days before the International Court of Justice pronounces its ruling on the legality of the wall on July 9.
Palestinians believe that despite that the ICJ ruling is not binding, yet they look at it as another international voice against the wall.
On the other hand, Israel started its preparation to face the ICJ ruling.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Friday in Washington that Israel would not accept a World Court ruling on the legality of the West Bank separation wall, calling the U.S. to block any UN possible action against Israel.
‘We believe that Israel can deal with this issue by itself, we can’t accept any external involvement from the International Court of Justice.’ Shalom said.
‘This issue should be discussed between the two parties – the Israelis and the Palestinians – with other members that are involved in the peace process,’ Shalom added, yet Israel is carrying out a unilateral disengagement without a Palestinian Partner.
Bishara, started his open ended hunger strike on Saturday, told reporters that he will continue with his strike as much as he can, saying that he believe he will not be able to change the government policy, but hope to focus more light on the tragedies created by the wall construction.
Bishara accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with attempting to divert the world attention away from the real issues, the tragedies created by the wall construction, to his vague disengagement plan.
Bishara believes that the wall was Sharon’s way to impose a final solution in the West Bank.
Bishara said that the wall section in Jerusalem creates the most devastating human conditions to Palestinians.
‘it separates families away from each others, it pushes dozens of thousands of Jerusalem citizens out of Jerusalem, it only separates Palestinians from Palestinians’ he said.
Bishara also said that even if Israel thinks of rerouting the wall, no rerouting can solve any of the above mentioned problems.
