The Wall is not a security measure, it is an attempt to annex close to half of the West Bank. Once it is completed it will leave almost half of the territory on Israel's side of the Wall. Furthermore, Palestinians who lose their homes, shops, farms and greenhouses are not compensated. This cannot be justified by "imminent domain" as Israel does not legally own that land. They control it by a military occupation under which Palestinians have virtually no rights. The loss of their homes and livelihoods is causing incredible deprivation and is part of the Sharon government's attempts to make life unbearable for Palestinians in the hopes that they will leave. Most checkpoints are inside Palestinian areas and between Palestinian cities and towns. They are understandable when they are at the border of Israel, but restricting the ability of Palestinians to pass between their own towns to go to work, school or the hospital is not. Besides, according to human rights workers and international observers these checkpoints are most often used as an exercise in humiliation and control. Forcing people to stand for hours or even days in blazing heat or very cold weather, only to then let everyone through without checking a single ID. Palestinian women have been forced to give birth at checkpoints and some have died. Ambulances are routinely delayed or refused passage for no reason, frequently resulting in deaths. There are many other abuses that have occurred at checkpoints, including extrajudicial executions of unarmed people and of Palestinians being forced to strip naked in order to humiliate them in cases where it was clear that they were unarmed. These checkpoints inside Palestinian towns and cities should not even exist. The Israeli government needs to do the only rational thing at this point and pull out all illegal settlements and troops from the West Bank and Gaza and permit U.N. Peacekeepers to come in, as the Palestinians have been asking for, for years.

_www.stopthewall.org