Last week, the International Court of Justice (also known as the World Court) ruled that the apartheid wall between Israel proper and the West Bank was illegal under international law. The 14-1 ruling reaffirmed the beliefs of most Palestinians, with the only judge dissenting being the American one.

The Americans and the Israelis claim this wall is about security. Yet after examining Israeli policy, the true aim of the wall and the settlements it encloses is clear: To take as much land and resources while maximizing the Palestinian population on the smallest amount of land possible.

How can this wall be about security when it separates farmers from their land? How can a wall be about security when it divides entire villages in half and separates family and friends? Families and friends that used to be able to walk across the street to see each other now have to wait for military permission to do so.

The most destructive and convincing argument against the wall is this: If the wall is truly about security, then why is it not built on the international recognized border of the Occupied Territories, the 1967 Green Line?

The most effective path for the wall would be the shorter, more easily patrolled path on the Green Line.

For example, near Qalqilya, a town on the western side of the occupied West Bank, is completely surrounded by the wall. Why would the wall reach deep into the occupied West Bank, costing millions more than building along the 1967 Green Line.

Two reasons: (1) The aim of the apartheid wall is taking land from Muslim and Christian Palestinians, (2) This area is an area in the occupied West Bank that is a high water recharge area.

This area, just south of Qalqilya, has a good and constant source of clean water.

Remember the goal of the Israeli government: to take as much land and resources while maximizing the Palestinian population on the smallest amount of land possible. Tactics include establishing settlements on every hilltop of the West Bank. In the Birzeit area, just north of Ramallah, several colonies have been established since last summer. The entire area is then off-limits to Palestinians. By establishing these colonies on every hilltop, Israel claims that these colonies then need to be included in Israel by the wall.

In Qalqilya, the wall is separating nearly 50 percent of the farmland from the farmers. Thirty-three percent of the city’s water wells are located outside of the wall. An entire city of more than 40,000 residents is now completely enclosed by a 25-foot high wall. One single roadblock controls an entire population of 43,000.

If Israel is truly interested in security of Israeli citizens, it would follow international law and withdraw from Occupied Palestinian Territories. To prove the wall is about security, build the wall on the 1967 Green Line. It is shorter, would be less expensive and would be “legal” under international law. The current projected length of the wall is 788 kilometers, which is double the 1967 Green Line.

Recently, fewer attacks have occurred in Israel — doesn’t this mean the wall is working? The increase in security measures such as locking down entire villages for days at a time, also known as collective punishment, illegal under the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, of course the increased security will help.

As Israel continues to occupy historic Palestine, carrying out internationally recognized illegal assassinations, and continues its policy of collectively punishing the populations for a few radical militants’ actions, there will be no peace in occupied Palestine. Justice brings peace, not forcing an entire population in Israel’s policy.

It doesn’t make sense when we look at the wall as a security measure: It’s costing twice as much to build, taking twice as long and is twice as long as the internationally recognized Occupied Territories border.

But it does make perfect sense when we understand Israeli’s goal of concentrating the Palestinian population on the least amount of land possible.

According to the Palestinian Liberation Organization Negotiations Affairs Department, 43 percent of the occupied West Bank will be de facto annexed into Israel. Eighty-four percent of the Palestinian population will trapped inside the wall.

Palestinians and Israelis alike call for the construction of the wall to be on the 1967 Green Line. At least then, it would be “legal” under international law, and make more sense for Israel’s argument for the wall’s security ability. As it stands in the present, the wall is an obvious land grab.

This is just the physical aspect of the construction of the wall. Economically, the wall is destroying towns, businesses and the entire Palestinian economy. It is creating ghettos and cutting off buyers from markets. The wall is an obvious attempt to destroy Palestinian life, culturally and economically.

With the international community supporting the jurisdiction of the ICJ and world leaders calling for the immediate halting of the wall’s construction, it’s time for Israel to take note of the World Court’s ruling.

With the United States failing once again to stand up for human rights and justice, it is time for other countries to step up to the Israeli and Palestinian people’s plea for a just peace in occupied Palestine.