Barghouthi: The World Bank Report shows Apartheid established by Israel in Palestine

Wednesday May 09, 2007 19:06 by George Rishmawi - Amin Abu Warda

Section of the wall in the West Bank

The latest World Bank report shows that Israel has established an Apartheid System in Palestine and isolated nearly 50 percent of the West Bank land, Dr. Mustafa Bagrhouthi, Palestinian Minister of Information said on Wednesday.

The report entitled “The imposed restrictions on the freedom of Movement in the West Bank” which will be published today shows that Israeli has created ten cantons in the West Bank, isolated, geographically and economically. The cantons prevented the local residents and especially the farmers from reaching 50 percent of their lands and became exclusive to Israeli settlers who are illegally residing in the West Bank.

Israel has destroyed the economic system in Palestine and set all the Palestinian roads under an apartheid system to benefit the illegal settlements, said Barghouthi.

He added that what has been created can not be treated by measures to ease the situation in some West Bank areas, it is necessary to remove the infrastructure of the 530 permanent roadblocks and military checkpoints and the 600 mobile checkpoints placed in the West Bank.

In addition, Barghouthi pointed out that all the collective punishment measures and the annexation wall should be removed to end this apartheid.

The Palestinian Minister demanded the international community following the World Bank report, not only to lift the embargo imposed on the Palestinian people, but also to impose sanctions against Israel to force it to dismantle the infrastructure of the Apartheid system it has created in Palestine.

“What is important also is to hear what the European Union and the United States would say about the report, which one can only conclude that who should be punished and boycott is the country that practices oppression and apartheid, not the Palestinian people who became victims of this apartheid,” Barghouthi stated.

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