More on The Wall
July 16, 2005
The Wall. What does one call it? A separation barrier? An apartheid wall?
There are some who don’t like the word apartheid, while even the Archbishop Desmond Tutu has compared what is happening in the Middle East to what happened in South Africa:
“In our struggle against apartheid, the great supporters were Jewish people. They almost instinctively had to be on the side of the disenfranchised, of the voiceless ones, fighting injustice, oppression and evil. I have continued to feel strongly with the Jews. I am a patron of a Holocaust Center in South Africa. I believe Israel has a right to secure borders.
What is not so understandable, not justified, is what it did to another people to guarantee its existence. I’ve been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about. My heart aches. I say, Why are our memories so short?”
What is becoming more and more clear is that this separation barrier is not a “security” barrier. As our bus has traveled through many checkpoints throughout the West Bank, there have been many times when we have been stuck at checkpoints simply because the soldiers didn’t want to let anyone through. They weren’t doing anything, just sitting around, talking, etc. When I go through the Bethlehem checkpoint, I don’t even have to open my passport as long as they see the United States of America on the front of it. People walk through holes and certain sections of the Wall everyday - if a suicide bomber wants to get into Israel, the Wall is not going to stop him/her - there are many ways to get around the Wall. It is not about security, but about making life difficult for Palestinians.
The Wall completely surrounds some cities in the West Bank, like Qalqilyah, and it is getting close to enveloping Bethlehem and Beit Sahour as well. It is encroaching upon the land surrounding villages like Bil’in, and creating a network of roads, fences, walls, trenches and barriers that cut through olive groves and Palestinian land.
I don’t know exactly what to call it. Maybe apartheid wall isn’t the best terminology, but it is not a “security” wall. From now on, I will refer to it as “the Wall.” And while I don’t know all that there is to know about it, I do know that it is wrong. And I know that I am in good company.
Tags: Apartheid Wall, Israel, Middle East, Palestine, The Wall, Travel
Posted in 
Adam Walker Cleaveland: 
July 16th, 2005 at 5:22 pm
“And while I don’t know all that there is to know about it, I do know that it is wrong.”
Wow. That’s a loaded statement if I’ve ever seen one. You don’t know all there is to know about it, but you know it’s “wrong”? Pretty strong language for such a believer in relative morals as yourself. ;)
Oh, and the “good company” you referenced isn’t joined by the American judge on the ICJ, as you probably read about here:
http://plax.typepad.com/fear_trembling/2005/07/my_friend_is_si.html
Peace friend,
- Kellen
July 16th, 2005 at 9:48 pm
I call it an anti-suicide bomber fence because about 97% of it is just fence– not wall– and it does stop suicide bombers.
July 17th, 2005 at 12:52 pm
David. Have you been here? Have you seen how imposing it is? Just fence is completely ridiculous…
You can’t make statements like that after you’ve seen the “fence”, the Wall, the intricate system of trenches and barriers and electronic-sections of fence, etc., and see the way people can so easily get around it…it’s not going to keep out people who want to get through…
July 17th, 2005 at 8:36 pm
Adam,
If these trences are so imposing, then why do you only choose to show the scary-looking concrete part? Those concrete walls only make up a tiny portion of the barrier (approx. 3%), yet you anti-Israel types pretent otherwise for obvious reasons.
July 17th, 2005 at 8:47 pm
and ps., the barrier has reduced the level of suicide bomber infiltrations from the west bank by 50% already, and from Gaza to almost zero. The fence is saving lives. I know that isn’t high on your list of priorities, but it is to others.
July 18th, 2005 at 5:19 am
Adam may well be a moral relativist, but I would say that any moral system which supports the Wall is relatively wrong.Whether it is a wall or a fence it is still a barrier that prevents people from living their lives. School, work, food, hospitals, family, you name it, you can’t get to it. There are many ways to take life away from people, and they are all wrong. It is one thing to say that a Palestinian has a right to live and go to school and not have his kids shot, or that an Israeli has a right not to be blown up. It is another to say that one of these people has the right to live and the other doesn’t because he is evil and violent. So, why don’t we work from the principle that everyone has a right to live. Now, who is killing and taking away the daily life of more people. Obviously this is Israel. This doesn’t mean you should want Israelis dead. It does however, allow/compell us to demand that they stop killing people and making life impossible. Justice doesn’t require violence, maybe a bit more intelligence, a bit less anger, but we can work on that.
July 18th, 2005 at 10:26 am
Katy,
Adam “may” be a moral relativist? Incredible understatement.
Why don’t the Palestinians police themselves for a change? If they are all so peace loving as this propoganda blog proclaims let them prove it. Maybe there wouldn’t be a need for a wall.
Justice does not require violence? All governments, even the best of them, work under the rule that they can hurt you more than you can hurt them. In this fallen world that is how order is kept. The gospel is not the reformation of world governments to “mob rule” which is what pure democracy is. The Kingdom of God is a theocracy and has nothing to do with man’s governmental systems, other than one day He will subjugate them. Rev 19:11-21.
Adam will have a great career as a spin doctor for either CNN or Hillary’s press spokesman.
I will slightly surprised if this comment is not deleted.
July 18th, 2005 at 11:19 am
Dear Sister Katy,
“Now, who is killing and taking away the daily life of more people. [sic] Obviously this is Israel.”
Now that was a quick jump! That’s a bit of an assumption, isn’t it? I’m not sure how it is so OBVIOUS that Israel is “taking away the daily life of more people”? Statements like this are precisely the reason Reno was calling into question a non-historical understanding of this geo-political struggle. Both sides have killed, have been killing, are killing, Katy. It isn’t so simple.
_______________
Dear Brother Chris,
Isn’t it possible that the new covenant inaugurates an age in which justice is the abolition of violence? By the way, I hope things are well in Shiprock.
Grace and Truth,
- Kellen
July 18th, 2005 at 12:14 pm
David: You have no idea about my priorities, and don’t assume you do. Again, when was the last time you actually *saw* the “fence” or Wall?
Chris, so good to see you around again. I’ve missed you. Your comment stands…but I would *also* be interested in how many Palestinians you’ve met and how familiar YOU are with the situation over here…what it’s really like. If my “propaganda” is no good for you - where are you getting your information?
July 18th, 2005 at 4:30 pm
Adam,
you seem pretty put off by David’s comment that the terrible cement apartheid wall represents only about 3% of the security barrier. The other 97% is just fence?
Is this a true statement? What does your first hand experience reveal? What do your indigenous sources say?
If this is true then you truly have a responsibility to intellectual integrity to report that information and to show us those pictures.
It would be really sad if you only showed us 3% percent of reality . . . talk about the “Hyper-Real”.
July 18th, 2005 at 4:33 pm
>>>>”Again, when was the last time you actually *saw* the “fence” or Wall?”
That was a pretty lame retort. Are you disputing the facts? Let me know and I’ll get you the info. You don’t actually have to SEE something with your ocular organs to know something is a fact.
July 18th, 2005 at 4:49 pm
the barriers have driven Palestinian unemployment from barely 17% to 70; and 85% of the land taken has been from Palestinian’s. Although, the wall may not be as detrimental as the deep razor wire filled ditch that spreads through most of the separated areas, it still is. They have had a dramatic impact upon their lives.
Wow, so, david, you would assume, through his posts, he lacks a certain value of life. Again, after one of your comments i say interesting.
why all the mud slinging. Have we not witnessed the utter brutality levied by both?
Chris P…too funny.
July 18th, 2005 at 5:17 pm
>>>”Wow, so, david, you would assume, through his posts, he lacks a certain value of life.”
Oh, heavens no. Only ISRAELI life.