21 July 2004

Hon Matt Robson MP, Progressive Deputy Leader

Pull down that Apartheid Wall, Mr Sharon!

The Sharon government should take heed of international law and pull down the Apartheid Wall it is building through Palestinian villages and farmlands in the illegally occupied West Bank, Progressive MP Matt Robson said today.

"The World Court has ruled that the Apartheid Wall, which is being used by the Sharon government to subdivide the occupied Palestinian territory into a series of Bantustans, is illegal.

"Today the United Nations' General Assembly voted to demand Israel implement the World Court's ruling," Matt Robson said.

In 1947, the leaders of the Jewish nationalist movement based their legal claim to establish a State of Israel in Palestine on the fact that a majority in the United Nations' General Assembly voted to partition Palestine in order to establish a new state of Israel in a portion of Palestine.

The World Court ruled on July 9 that the barrier, under construction, is illegal because it subdivides the West Bank, the Palestinian territory that the Israel Defence Force seized in its 1967 invasion but which has yet to vacate.

"If the ultra-right wing government of Israel wants to build a Security Barrier to protect innocent civilians from terrorist attacks, then it should build a wall around Israel's legitimate 1967 borders.

"And it should pull down its Apartheid Wall which is being constructed through Palestinian villages and farms in the Palestine West Bank," Matt Robson said.

Matt Robson chairs the NZ Parliament-Palestine Authority Friendship Group of MPs.

ENDS

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