Ramallah – Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, and a group from the Initiative, accompanied the famous writer from Biro, Mario Vargas Llosa, on a tour to the areas around the Apartheid Wall in Jerusalem and Qalqiliya.
Dr. Barghouthi showed Llosa how the Palestinian people suffer due to racist separation and the inhuman situation of occupation.
He affirmed that Israel’s aim behind the Wall is to isolate East Jerusalem from its surroundings and separate it from what’s left of the West Bank.
The group walked to the new terminal that Israel is building at Qalandia checkpoint and looked at the procedures at the checkpoint that delay daily life for Palestinians, including walking long distances in narrow roads surrounded by razor wire.
Dr. Barghouthi emphasized that the Apartheid Wall delegitimizes Sharon’s efforts to market himself as a man of peace and to exaggerate the disengagement plan, which will transform the Gaza Strip into a giant prison if they do not hand control of the borders over to Palestinians and guarantee a safe passage between the West Bank and Gaza.
Llosa and Barghouthi discussed the importance of an international campaign of sanctions against Israel, to suspend cooperation and connections with Israel, and to divest from Israel until it complies with international law and ceases building the Apartheid Wall and expanding settlements.