UN conference calls for pressure to force Israel to bring down separation wall

Civil society organizations have committed themselves to pressure their governments to condemn Israel's "separation wall" in the occupied West Bank as part of its pattern of illegal settlement activity, according to a plan of action adopted by the United Nations International Conference of Civil Society in Support of the Palestinian People.

Agreeing on the outline for the "Bring Down the Wall" campaign contained in the Action Plan, adopted at the end of the conference last Friday, civil society organizations also committed themselves to combining resources to educate the public, increase pressure on governments to condemn the wall's illegality and demand its immediate destruction.

Israel says the barrier, a complex series of walls, barriers, trenches and fences within the occupied West Bank that has nearly encircled and isolated some Palestinian towns and villages, is a security operation necessary to keep out suicide bombers.

The conference was organized by the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People in New York.