of the inhabitants hell, in order to convince them by and by to go away. It is a kind of "creeping transfer."

Like the terrifying bulldozer pushing before it rocks and lumps of earth, so the occupation pushes before it the Palestinian populationalways eastwards, always out.

Historians can see this as a continuous process that started 120 years ago and has not stopped for a moment. It began with the eviction of the felaheen from land that was purchased from absentee landowners and continued with the Nakba of 1948,³⁷ the massive land expropriations from Arabs in Israel after that war, the expulsions during the 1967 war, the creeping eviction by means of settlements and bypass roads throughout the years of the occupation, and now the expulsion caused by the wall. The Hebrew bulldozer rolls in front. Not by chance, Ariel Sharon's nickname is "the bulldozer."³⁸

The wall of Mas'ha and Kalkiliya, which continues to the Gilboa mountains, is not the only one. To the east of it, a second wall is already being planned. It will embrace the Ariel and Kadumim settlements and penetrate 20 kilometers into Palestinian territory, almost reaching the central axis of the West Bank, the Ramallah-Nablus road.

However, even this is not the whole picture. Sharon is now planning the "Eastern Wall" that will cut off the West Bank from the Jordan Valley.³⁹ When it is finished, the whole West Bank will become an island surrounded by Israeli territory, cut off on all sides.

Also, the southern West Bank (Hebron and Bethlehem) will be cut off from the northern West Bank (Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin), which will also be divided into several enclaves.

This map is very reminiscent of the map of apartheid South Africa. The racist government set up several black "homelands," nicknamed Bantustans, ostensibly self-governing territories whose black leaders were appointed by the white government. Each Bantustan was

completely surrounded by the territory of the racist state, cut off from the rest of the world.

This is exactly what Sharon has in mind when he speaks about a "Palestinian state." It will consist of several enclaves, each one surrounded by Israeli territory, without an external border with Jordan or Egypt. Sharon has been working on this plan for decades, setting up dozens of settlements according to its map.

The wall will serve this purpose. It has nothing to do with security; it certainly will not bring peace. It will only bring more hatred and bloodshed. The very idea that an obstacle of cement or wire could stop the hatred is ludicrous.

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