Wall is declared illegal, but Israel continues contruction....

"The International Court of Justice has ruled that the barrier Israel is building in the West Bank is illegal and has demanded reparations for Palestinians affected by it. There will now be pressure for sanctions to make Israel stop building the barrier but its construction is likely to continue." - The Economist

It's a pretty informative article. I'd suggest reading it. It doesn't really help you understand much history, but there is some background and it should bring you up to date on what's happening.

Hopefully the UN declaring the wall illegal will be a step toward Palestinian liberation. However, it is unlikely because world court decisions like this are non-binding and pretty much useless for enforcing international law. I'm sure Israel will refuse to halt construction of their 390 mile wall, which consists of "concrete walls, barbed-wire fences, trenches and patrol roads." And there isn't likely to be much objection to Israel's refusal as actions taken against Israel would likely be vetoed by the United States or some other countries of the council with veto-power.

I'm thoroughly pissed about how things work in international courts now. I was hoping there would be justice, but I suppose that I should have simply referred to the history of US and others' military interventions since the Declaration of Human Rights and other international laws and treaties have been passed for ample confirmation that such declarations only serve to conceal the arbitrary rule of capitalist empires (i.e. corporations). There are no human rights in despotism.