The Writing on the Wall

[ProgressiveMuslim]

Date posted: November 04, 2009
By Britain Eakin for MIFTAH

As the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall approaches, I find it appropriate to reflect on what lessons its fall has to teach us about the Wall being built here in Palestine, what is known to Israelis as the “Security Fence” and what is known to many Palestinians as the “Apartheid Wall.” In order to deepen my understanding of its significance and the various meanings it holds, I wanted to see the Wall up close and in person. I decided to travel with a Palestinian friend to Qalqilya, a town in the northern West Bank that is completely surrounded by the Wall.

The drive to Qalqilya from Ramallah is nothing less than stunning. The landscape of the West Bank and its terraced hills dotted with olive trees mesmerized me with its beauty. The Palestinian villages along the way seemed to blend into the landscape seamlessly and timelessly. Yet it wasn’t long before I was pulled out of this dreamscape and back into reality. I began to notice Israeli military jeeps, watch towers and checkpoints. Then came the gas stations with Hebrew-only signs, along with the Jewish settlements and outposts; many of the settlers stood on the side of the road trying to hitch rides into Israel.

The settlements are unmistakable with their red-tiled roofs and their symmetric design. In contrast to the Palestinian villages, the settlements and outposts look very out of place and in disharmony with the landscape. They sit perched on hilltops, towering ominously over Palestinian areas like cordoned off fortresses surrounded by barbed wire and electric fences. They are guarded heavily by Israeli soldiers, evidence that the Israeli government is facilitating the entire settlement enterprise. The closer we got to Qalqilya, the more numerous the settlements grew, along with my understanding of how problematic they are for the viability of any future Palestinian state.

When we arrived in Qalqilya, my friend and I headed for the Wall walking to the Western edge of the town, until we reached what is now the outskirts of Qalqilya and its remaining farmland. In this particular area, the Wall is a massive and obtrusive structure reaching eight meters in height. I felt quite small standing next to it – not only in comparison to the Wall itself, but also in the face of the powers that allow it to exist.

Many parts of the Wall cut deep into Palestinian territory. However, this part of the Wall happens to fall along the Green Line, and I could hear the buzzing of cars whizzing by on the Israeli freeway on the other side. As I listened to the cars, I couldn’t help but think that one of the main functions of the Wall is the separation and exclusion of Palestinians from Israel, who have always been considered a “demographic threat” to the Jewish character of the state...

read on...
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=20939&CategoryID=13

[Vegasaurus]

1. Was never a wall before suicide bombers started blowing up buses and cafes

Sometimes people seem to get their time lines confused.

If the Palestinians wanted no checkpoints and no walls, they should never have considered that violent aggressive terrorism was going to improve their lives.

[bstender]

2. and there never was a resistance movement until Israel occupied Palestine.

speaking of timelines

[pelsar]

3. speaking of timelines...

how far do you want to back?....to the 1920's when the arabs attacked the jewish farmers?
to 1948 when the arabs rejected to idea of two states and decided to try to destroy the jewish one..

or back to the romans when the jews were originally kicked out?

choose a time....

[bstender]

6. i've already been down this dead end

and though i knew it would be pounced upon, (soon i'll be seeing all kinds of historical facts from Uri Geller or maybe the bible) i wanted to point out the original sin of blaming the Palestinians for the abominable wall. (or the people dying at the chcekpoints, or the invasion of Gaza or the demolition of houses, or the outposts or the continuing expansion, continuing occupation and on and on.) IOW, it's all the Palestinians fault, which is bullshit. the creation of Israel was wrong to begin with and Israel has taken every opportunity to expand territory, ethnically cleanse and oppress the locals from then till now.

[pelsar]

7. thanks you...at least you made that clear...its not about human rights etc

the creation of Israel was wrong to begin with and Israel has taken every opportunity to expand territory, ethnically cleanse and oppress the locals from then till now.

-------------

i m just glad youve clarified your stance.....and frankly in the world of israelis and jews your view is simply one more in those last 4000 years that puts jews at the bottom of the barrel so to speak. The whole idea was to have a jewish state to protect them from all those nice people in the world, who seem to prove again and again that anti-Semitism is alive and well......

the fact that it was rejected by some locals, arab immigrants and lots of the neighbors was a shame........

but i think whats most interesting is the exposure....how so many from the left have taken up the cause of nationalism and racism and cloaking in to some kind *progressive cause.* Added to that is the method of the *ends justifies the means* as a method of getting to the goal. We see that in countless posts that have massive exaggeration, blindness to facts that dont fit as well as general demonization of israels, either directly or indirectly.


for example is your *original sin* of the wall....i understand you have to ignore the suicide bombers, the long list of less extreme attempts to stop them, since they ruin your thesis of why the wall went up and the fact that it works. hence the wall is *original* with no history.

this would be a classic case of wall vs israeli lives.....your position is clear.
Same too i assume for gaza...i assume in your eyes 6000 missiles on israelis day and night for years isnt really considered anything that cant be lived with, given that theyre falling on lsrael

but frankly only those who are believers actually believe this sentence

Israel has taken every opportunity to expand territory

to believe it you either have to ignore history or believe....that making up stuff is ok...meaning the ends justifies the means...Clearly you believe that.

[bstender]

8. a pity

pelsar says: "The whole idea was to have a jewish state to protect them from all those nice people in the world, who seem to prove again and again that anti-Semitism is alive and well......"

really, was that the whole idea? nothing at all about a racist philosophy? and though it might have been a dandy idea for you, it was a disaster for the people who happened to live there.

but whatever, tut tut, such a shame they didn't go away quietly like good little...what? are they not fellow humans with the same rights as your own? do you subscribe to that notion that Jewish people are of a higher order than non-jewish people? is this how you resolve that little moral problem in your heart?

pelsar says: "...how so many from the left have taken up the cause of nationalism and racism and cloaking in to some kind *progressive cause.*"

i'm not sure i follow your point in paragraph 3, it seems to be that strange rebuttal that Israeli crimes are being focused on instead of other nation's crimes, (so it is _really_ just anti-semitism that is at the heart of the complaints) i say 'strange' because it is so weak on so many levels, so morally bankrupt that i would expect an intelligent person to be embarrassed to utter it.

why are Israeli crimes becoming such a cause celebe? well, my guess is that beyond the enormity of the crimes and general inhumanity for so many years, it is made more compelling by the unfolding story of how extensive are the behind the scenes efforts to perpetuate the situation; the inordinate control of Congress, the billions upon billions of american treasure funneled into the atrocity, there's the secret arsenal of nukes, there's the Iraq war, one of the biggest crimes in history, launched by neocons and strongly pushed by Israel (and vehemently opposed by everyone else) and they've been working hard to get us into Iran too. the whole war on terror crap is a movie made in Israel and played on every channel non-stop. you see, the whole stinking mess is coming to light and i can't think of a cause more progressive than exposing and ending this deeply racist and cynical program.

pelsar says: "this would be a classic case of wall vs israeli lives.....your position is clear." and your position is clear as well. Israeli lives are more important than Palestinian lives. the wall is a further act of war, 180 degrees from what a honest party for making peace would do. one of several such moves. you also have to ignore the suicide bombers, why would a person blow themselves up? does that not mean anything to you? i know a racist explanation would be that they are just 'batshit crazy by birth" so please dont drop that one on me. obviously the suffering is very extreme. all reports concur, the suffering is extreme.


pelsar says: "Same too i assume for gaza...i assume in your eyes 6000 missiles on israelis day and night for years isnt really considered anything that cant be lived with, given that theyre falling on lsrael"

6000 missles sounds pretty impressive, lucky for you they are almost worthless in actually killing anybody. but you showed them some real ordinance didnt you? you killed more people in the first hour than they killed in those 8 years and 6000 rockets. and you went on killing and killing just for good measure. nothing about the blockade on Gaza for those years, that's just what you ned to do to people who have the audacity of electing a govt. that isnt on the Israeli payroll.

and curious, how do you spin the continued occupation and the settlements?

[oberliner]

4. Was there no resistance movement when the UK occupied Palestine?

What about when the Ottoman Empire occupied Palestine?

How about when the Egyptians occupied Palestine?

[Shaktimaan]

5. well, that's just absurd...

The Palestinian resistance movement began long before the state of Israel was even officially founded, certainly long before 1967. In fact, the Jews who were originally attacked and killed/expelled from their homes were not even immigrant Israelis, but native Palestinian Jews.

Were there no violent resistance movement then the original single state plan would have likely come to fruition. The later two state plan was also scuttled by this same movement. You seem to have your causes and effects somewhat out of order. Were there no violence then there would never have been any occupation in the first place.