Sadiya Chowdhury, Special to Arab News

LONDON, 3 November 2003 — For anybody who has ever wondered why Israel sings at the Eurovision Song Contest or sits in the European wing of the United Nations, it will not come as a surprise that the Jewish state is turning its back on its Arab neighbors for good. Israel is building 360 km of 10 meter-high concrete, electric barbed wire, check posts, watchtowers and a squad of armed men ready to shoot “any person who passes or damages this fence.”

Initially termed a “separation obstacle”, the wall is now referred to by the Israelis as a “security fence”. Israel claims that the sole objective of the fence is security from terrorists and suicide bombers. On the Palestinian side it is seen as a wall surrounding a concentration camp: Brimful of humiliation and collective punishment, a massive land-grab and a frightening disaster. It is reminiscent of the Berlin Wall.

Built in August 1961, the Berlin Wall was to serve as a shield to East Berliners from the capitalist philosophers of the West. It was thought that a sturdy wall would prevent the working class of East Germany from entering West Germany. The West Germans labeled the wall “Schandmauer” — “Wall of Shame”. Just as the East German Communists hoped to confine and separate its citizens from West Germany, Israel is attempting to separate Palestinians from itself, deepening the divide that is already killing hundreds of innocent people. The Israeli wall, much like the Berlin Wall, is a politically motivated obstacle in people’s lives, splitting families, friends and countrymen, and largely obscuring pragmatism.

Pragmatism is an idea that most people involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict cannot even imagine. An idea that is replaced by violence on the part of some Palestinians and illegal occupation with all that entails by Israel of Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian territories. How are we to accept that building a wall between the Palestinians and the Israelis could possibly bring peace to a region so deep in conflict? If anything, the wall is a reminder to the Palestinians of their vulnerability, and a means of forcing them to give up their land. For the government of East Germany, the Berlin Wall symbolized economic and technological superiority, and for the government in Tel Aviv the wall being erected is a symbol of Israeli military might and Jewish sovereignty.

The Berlin Wall did not last. By November 1989, following a string of protests and political movements in East Germany, the Berlin Wall came down — but that did not happen overnight. It took Mikhail Gorbachev’s diplomatic initiatives as well as openness (glasnost) and democratic reform (perestroika) to bring the wall down. If peace in the Middle East is to be given a chance then Israel needs to grasp dialogue with the Palestinians. For the Israeli wall to come down there needs to be democratic reform and policy review by both sides. Providing that there is a will to make peace, the fence can be short-lived and perhaps one day its fall, or absence, will exist in memory as a symbol of unity, peace and understanding.

For now though, the wall is an infringement of Palestinian right to free movement and a threat to Palestinian living standards and citizenship. It is an expensive defense measure for Israel, a diplomatic mistake, a moral wrong, and, under the terms of the Geneva Convention, an illegal enterprise.

It is hard to believe that Israeli security depends on this concrete wall. Israel has the largest army in the Middle East. If that army cannot provide safety to Israel then why is it that America, the world’s most powerful nation, is constantly supplying large quantities of aid to support the Israeli Army?

If grabbing land is not the prime motive of this wall then why have the Israelis not followed the internationally recognized Green Line between the West Bank and Israel? Instead, it seems this monster wall being erected slices Palestinian territory to create a new frontier ensuring that the Israelis acquire much of the West Bank.

Whatever the case for a wall, whatever the cost, whatever the various names it has, it is not the solution to the Middle East conflict. It was leading Islamic scholar Sheikh Hamza Yusuf who once wrote: “We can enrich each other if we choose to enhance our essential humanity; we can destroy the world if we choose to stress our differences.” These words are particularly resonant at a time when nations build walls around themselves and between each other. We live in a world where technology and medicine are advancing at phenomenal speeds, where travel and communication are improving to astonishing levels, a world where ideologies are more in line than ever before. Why then, are we still building walls between each other?

Recently Army Chief Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya’alon told Israeli journalists that the Israeli Army had contested the route of the fence and had recommended a less controversial route.

On Oct. 22 the UN General Assembly voted to “stop and reverse the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”. The resolution was passed by 144 votes with 12 abstentions. Israel and the United States were among the four nations that voted against it. (clarkkent19@6arab.com)