"The separation wall shows Israel is not serious"

Palestinian Minister of State for Security Affairs Mohamed Dahlan stressed this "shows Israel is not thinking seriously about implementing the roadmap" backed by the United States and international community.

"We refuse this wall, because it has no security purpose. This wall will only increase hatred between the Palestinian and Israeli sides because it is a racist, separation wall," Dahlan told Agence France-Presse (AFP)
Palestinians view the barrier as an attempt by Israel to set in stone the borders of any future Palestinian independent state and have been angered by its route which cuts into their territory.

Sharon’s government argues that it is merely intended to prevent infiltrations by Palestinians planning anti-Israeli attacks and has no political motivation.

"If the wall is about security, why does it absorb Palestinian villages?" Dahlan asked. "Who will look after for these people?"

The minister said that the Palestinians were not completely opposed to the building of the barrier.

"If they want to build a wall let them build it on the 1967 border."

Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr, for his part, termed as "disappointing" Sharon’s declaration that the wall construction would continue, reported the Israeli Haaretz newspaper.

He said the Israeli premier’s "insistence to continue building the wall…will complicate matters and dampen the positive atmosphere," that followed the presentation to the Palestinians and Israelis of the U.S.-backed roadmap.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who spoke to reporters before Bush and Sharon completed their talks in Washington, said the wall was a new "Berlin Wall" being built to divide Palestinian areas into ghettos in the West Bank.

Sharon’s statements also irked Palestinian factions, which warned that the continued construction of the wall could endanger the hudna, or truce on attacks against Israelis.

Abbas Threatened

After Sharon’s statements, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas’ position has been weakened rather than strengthened, analysts said.

Abbas managed to persuade Bush to make a rare public criticism of Israel last Friday when the U.S. president said that Israeli-built wall is a "problem" undermining confidence in the peace process.

Allies of Abbas, who was expected to return home later Wednesday, had warned that the outcome of his overseas trip – which also featured talks European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the leaders of Jordan, Egypt and Morocco – would be crucial to his hopes of political survival.

Hani al-Masri, a columnist with the Palestinian Al-Ayyam daily, said that the challenges facing Abbas had now increased after his trip.

"After the Abbas meeting there was a sense that things were moving ahead since there was a concrete position from the Americans on the wall and on the settlements," Masri said.

"But it all evaporated after the Bush-Sharon meeting and it will be difficult to expect future U.S. pressure on Sharon because the Americans will be busy with the elections."

Biased Bush

Palestinians accused the American president of predictable bias towards Israel by failing to pressure Sharon into halting the wall construction and releasing thousands of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails.

"When Abbas visits him, Bush makes him look good and stands by the Palestinian side on the issue of the security wall but it’s all for show," civil servant Khalil Hassan from the West Bank said.

"When Bush meets with Sharon he changes his position completely because he doesn’t want to exert real pressure on Israel. That’s why things can’t improve."

Hiam Hamdan, a twenty-year-old university student, said: "America strongly supports Israel and lets Sharon behave the way he wants."

She expected that "the truce won’t last long because Israel is acting dangerously on the ground, by building the security wall for instance."

Palestinians in Gaza City expressed similar skepticism about Bush’s commitment to implementing the roadmap.

"Bush’s declarations are not new and America has always stood by Israel as if it were its own daughter. It will not let her down to support Palestinians," said Ahmed Awad, a 36-year-old grocer.

Apart from Sharon’s statement on the barrier, Bush also failed to wring commitments from the Israeli premier on a halt to settlement activity or troop withdrawals from more Palestinian towns.