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No
Investment
and
Development
with
the
Apartheid
Wall
Invest
in
Justice
The
Palestinian
investment
conference
that
will
start
today
at
Bethlehem
is
being
held
at a
time
when
the
West
Bank
is
more
ghettoized
then
ever
before,
while
Jerusalem
is
separated
from
the
rest
of
Palestinian
territories
by a
segregation
wall
and
various
other
tools
of
the
Israeli
occupation,
while
Israel
continues
to
confiscate
land
and
build
illegal
settlements
in
violation
of
previously
signed
agreements
and
international
law,
and
while
the
Gaza
Strip
is
on
the
verge
of a
humanitarian
catastrophe
due
to
an
Israeli-imposed
siege.
According
to
international
law,
the
West
Bank,
Gaza
Strip
and
East
Jerusalem
are
occupied
territory,
and
Israel
is
the
occupying
power.
Despite
negotiations
regarding
Palestinian
independence,
and
despite
Israel's
2005
removal
of
settlements
from
the
Gaza
Strip,
Israel
remains
in
control
of
all
access
in
and
out
of
all
Palestinian
areas.
Israel
has
the
final
decision
to
issue
visas
or
permission
to
allow
visitors
and
investors
to
enter
Palestinian
territories.
Consequently,
Israel
has
full
control
over
the
Palestinian
economy.
The
wall,
economic
siege,
closures,
checkpoints,
expansion
of
settlements
over
Palestinian
private
land,
by-pass
settler
roads,
restrictions
on
freedom
of
movement,
control
of
the
natural
resources,
energy,
and
raw
materials,
are
all
tools
of
Israel's
occupation
that
restrict
Palestinian
self-sustainability
and
advancement.
It
is
hypocritical
to
convene
and
discuss
investment
in
Palestine,
without
working
to
address
such
Israeli
policies
that
hinder
true
development.
Therefore,
investors
as
well
as
politicians
should
put
pressure
on
Israel
to
end
policies
and
restrictions
that
hinder
all
kinds
of
investments
and
prevent
development,
especially
those
restrictions
that
violate
Palestinian
basic
rights.
We
believe
that
the
first
step
should
be
immediate
cessation
of
land
destruction
and
confiscation,
and
allowing
Palestinian
farmers
to
access
their
land
that
the
segregation
wall
has
isolated
from
them.
One
of
the
issues
to
be
discussed
at
this
conference
is
the
establishment
of
industrial
zones
that
Israelis
can
invest
in
using
Palestinian
workers
as
cheap
labor.
Such
zones
would
increase
Israel's
domination
over
the
Palestinian
economy
and
reinforce
the
apartheid
nature
of
Israel's
occupation.
Local
and
international
investors
are
invited
to
invest
under
a
just
settlement
by
insisting
on
political
progress
that
respects
the
human
and
political
rights
of
the
Palestinian
people,
and
not
simply
to
participate
in
an
endeavor
to
normalize
the
master
and
slave
nature
of
Israel's
belligerent
occupation.
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