Over the last week, the struggle against the Annexation Fences has gained a whole range of legal and public achievements, chiefly the decision of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. We thought that the best way to make an interim evaluation towards the continuation of the struggle would be listening to the words of one of the Palestinian activists, our partners in the struggle against the Fence and for a different future. This is the message of Aa’ed Murrar, one of the leading activists in the popular struggle against the Fence, from the village of Budrus:

“Legal decisions are always only a partial reflection of the reality on the ground, which is the main thing for us. The popular struggle itself has led to the decisions of the court, and not the other way around. And so, before the popular struggle started expanding, at the beginning of the construction work of the Fences, the inhabitants had tried to act in the legal front. Petitions to the courts prior to the popular activity faced rejection and unwillingness to intervene. It is the popular struggle that caused the change in the public debate, bringing about the change in the attitude of the Supreme Court in its last decision, followed by the decision of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The Israeli government and IDF prefer the semblance of “a state of law and justice”, in which matters are settled in courts, over admitting the success of the popular struggle and the fact that it hinders the completion of their plan.

          The popular struggle has two additional important implications: an organized and stubborn popular struggle influences the way the occupation and the fence are perceived by the public opinion, and it cracks their image, as presented by the government and the army. Moreover, raising our voice in a struggle has enabled us the encounter and the cooperation with Israeli and International peace activists. This cooperation would not have been born had we kept quiet in our villages. This encounter has contributed considerably to our ability to voice our message in Israel and abroad. This cooperation contributed significantly to the political change we are witnessing today.

          The popular struggle is only in its early stages. The decisions of the Israeli Supreme Court and of the International Court of Justice in The Hague are milestones – which undoubtedly help promoting the struggle – but in no way do they announce its end. The popular struggle must step forward more forcefully. We must not count on the fact that the courts’ decisions will bring about the change on the ground. A continuous popular struggle is the only guarantee that the judicial decisions will be actually implicated.

          I look with great concern at the recess in local struggles following the court decisions; however, from my conversations with leading local activists throughout the West Bank, it transpires that there is a widespread understanding that we need to consolidate and widen the popular struggle. So far the struggle has been in a local level, mainly in neighborhoods and villages directly hit by the construction of walls and fences. Advancing the popular struggle means we have to widen the circles active in the protest and to focus not only on the opposition to the “Fence”, but also to the Occupation and dispossession in its entirety.