The latest judicial rebuke of President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall arrived just in time for July 4, when a federal appeals court again blocked the administration from diverting $2.5 billion in military funds toward the wall. But as history shows, court orders aren’t always effective in halting construction or expansion of walls that “divide neighborhoods, worsen dangerous flooding, [and] destroy lands and wildlife,” as the Sierra Club explained in a statement following the court’s June preliminary injunction.
As part of Grassroots International’s work defending the human right to land, water, and food, my colleagues and I engage in conversations with farmers worldwide. One topic surfaces time and again with those from the U.S.-Mexico border and Palestine: how to resist the walls carving up their communities.
Just a few days before the ruling blocking funds for Trump’s wall, 49 Palestinians — including eight paramedics and one journalist — were wounded protesting the Israeli barrier fencing in the people of Gaza.
This week marks 15 years since the International Court of Justice offered a glimmer of hope that the situation of Palestinian farmers might change. On July 9, 2004, the ICJ issued an advisory opinion deeming Israel’s West Bank wall illegal, calling on Israel to dismantle it and pay reparations for any damage caused, and reaffirming the duty of all states to ensure Israel ends its violations of international law.
For Palestinians and those of us who have stood by them in their long struggle for freedom, this was a rare victory. Israel, however, has yet to heed a word of the ruling. As the U.S. continues to shield it from international pressure while bankrolling its military occupation, Palestinian families living closest to the wall suffer the most.
According to a 2015 report by the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem, 60% of affected communities reported that the wall had deprived them of water resources. By the time the wall is complete, it’s likely Israel will have taken nearly 15% of Palestinians’ agricultural land there. Including the broader impact of Israel’s military occupation and settlement expansion, the loss goes up to 63% of Palestinians’ agricultural land in the West Bank.
This isn’t the only militarized barrier Israel has built. There’s one along its border with Egypt that’s meant to keep out African refugees. This southern wall has been praised by Trump as a model for the U.S.-Mexico border. In fact, the U.S. is already employing Israeli border technology used to destroy Palestinian communities and enforce racist immigration policies.
What’s happening to Palestinians is not simply something happening “over there.” Elbit Systems of America, a subsidiary of an Israeli company, is making millions off militarizing the U.S.-Mexico border. Elta North America, another such subsidiary, was paid between $300,000 and $500,000 to build a prototype of Trump’s wall.
The institutions responsible for harming people operate across borders far more than most people realize, yet many groups are joining forces to gain strength.
Resisting what’s been described as “the wall industry,” organizers around the world like the Stop the Wall Campaign in Palestine, solidarity and human rights groups in Mexico, and others are coordinating advocacy efforts as part of a #WorldWithoutWalls campaign. As a member of La Via Campesina, an organization that includes over 200 million small-scale farmers and Indigenous peoples from 81 countries, Palestine’s Union of Agricultural Work Committees has been organizing with others facing threats to their livelihoods.
We cannot allow walls and borders to divide, fragment, and isolate us. Those fighting uphill battles miles away need our support and solidarity in order to persevere. Their victories will create a more just and peaceful world for us all. I’m reminded of Angela Davis’ insistence on the “indivisibility of justice.” Ultimately, 15 years after the ICJ ruling, it’s clear that the courts alone will not deliver justice. We need indivisible solidarity among those of us who reject racism, and who value human life and dignity more than profits.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
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There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
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