Against a Hillary Clinton Presidential Candidacy

Senator Hillary Clinton recently announced her support for Israel's enormous separation wall, which she declared was not against the Palestinians. She did so despite the wall's devastating effect on Palestinian life:
-- the wall bisects much of the West Bank's most fertile agricultural lands, often severing villages from their lands, farmers from their fields, and the entire area from its capital in Jerusalem
--the wall encompasses Arab East Jerusalem with some 200,000 Palestinians, who will be cut off from their West Bank hinterland (1
-- most of the Palestinians fresh water wells will be on Israels side of the wall (2
-- thousands of olive trees, the staple of Palestinian agriculture, and large numbers of Palestinian homes have been bulldozed to make way for the wall
-- the wall surrounds some 50 Palestinian communities, home to 245,000 people, on three and in some cases four sides; entry or exit to some of these communities is only permitted on foot, while the remainder can be reached only by Israeli-controlled roads or gates that allow extremely restricted entry and exit at the whim of Israelis and without regard to the legitimate needs of the Palestinian residents.
-- the wall directly affects half a million Palestinians: adults cut off from their jobs, students from their schools and all from access to medical care. Commerce has been destroyed in many areas, particularly where the wall runs down the middle of commercial districts
Finally, and very importantly, Senator Clinton supports the wall despite the ruling of the International Court of Justice, which found that its route outside the Green Line violates international law.(3 The court ruling, overwhelmingly endorsed by the UN General Assembly, calls on Israel to dismantle the wall and compensate the affected Palestinians. It further obligates all states parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention (including the United Sates) to ensure compliance by Israel. The wall is widely believed to constitute an annexation of great swathes of Palestinian land and prejudices any final status talks regarding borders.
A political figure so disdainful of international law, human rights and the requirements of justice should not be in contention for the highest office of our country. We therefore urge you to sign this pledge to oppose the anticipated candidacy of Hillary Clinton for the presidency of the United States of America.


1 Material cited here regarding the effects of the wall on Palestinian life is largely taken from reports by Btselem, the Israeli human rights organization (http://www.btselem.org/English/Separation_Barrier).
2 Article by Palestinian hydrologist Abdul-Latif Khaled http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1221/p09s02-coop.htm.
3 Human Rights Watch has also taken Sen. Clinton to task for these violations: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/23/isrlpa12086.htm