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NEWS & LETTERS, April 2004Voices From the Inside OutA new Berlin Wall in the West Bankby Robert Taliaferro After World War II the world became polarized into two armed camps: one espousing democracy and freedom, the other supporting Communism and a form of slavery. These two diverse ideologies were exemplified in Berlin. A Cold War had begun and the Berlin Wall became its ideological icon. Fast forward 60 years and two other ideologies now clash, and as in Berlin, the icon of that political war is a wall and fence called the West Bank Barrier. On one side of the Berlin Wall there was the West’s idea of freedom and prosperity, while the other side featured a decadent oppression of the populace by an occupying government. On one side of the West Bank Barrier we find Israelis gaining a sense of freedom and prosperity, while on the other side we see the collective punishment of Palestinians living in abject poverty, promulgated by another occupying force. GLOBAL CIVIL WAR In each case the respective barriers resonated beyond the borders where they existed. As during the Cold War, Africa, Asia, and the Americas have been equally affected by the policies and ideas espoused in the West Bank, resulting in a global Civil War. Walls and fences depersonalize, desensitize, and deculturalize a people. Whether they enclose a prison, or a community, they act as blinders to the plight of people held within their confines, making it easier to ignore injustice. What is said to be physical barriers to keep out destructive elements only serve to focus those elements towards a central point of hate. In the West Bank the barrier is said to restrict access of suicide bombers to Jewish settlements, also restricting the average Palestinian from jobs and education. In a triumph of the human spirit over adversity, Palestinians wishing to work or go to school find ways over and around the barrier, much like East Berliners once risked their lives in search of freedom. In 40 years, we have learned nothing with regard to the futility of such monuments. It is disturbing that the one nation that was created to ensure that extreme ethnocentrism will never again become nationalized as a political premise, is now a supporter of such radical isolationist ideas and practices. So much for the ill-conceived U.S.-led "Roadmap for Peace." It is sadly indicative of how poorly theorized the "Roadmap" was for a region where roadblocks did not consist solely of reinforced concrete barriers, high-performance aircraft, or armor-clad vehicles. In many respects the roadblocks derive from a bumbling ineptness of Western ideas combined with duly-inspired cultural racism between hard-line Palestinians and hard-line Israelis who often acted as pawns of the Cold War, as puppets of U.S. and Soviet monies, battles, and technologies. The critical mass of that racism eventually became self-sustaining as it expanded to encompass average citizens on both sides who wanted nothing more than to raise their families and exist. The West Bank has become the world’s Chernobyl which radiates the poisons of the cultural meltdown of that struggle into the very marrow of every man, woman, and child in the world. Every brick, every steel support, every drop of mortar mixed and poured is a tribute to the hatred that exists in the region, and a further step away from peace and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike. In the same light, every young Palestinian man and woman who feels that suicide and terrorism is the only available means to secure freedom and a future for their people, only serves to further enslave their people by giving Israel a reason to react. WALLS...AND BRIDGES Hard-liners on both sides act as if they have a lock on the pulse of their respective peoples disallowing thoughts of cohesion, peace, and understanding to flourish. The result is a collective ignorance that is deadly. But there is hope! We once watched in utter surprise as the people of Berlin--and throughout occupied Europe--threw off the yoke of oppression, not with Semtex strapped to their bodies, but with pickaxes, sledgehammers, and drills. We watched with stunned amazement as a multitude of nations who were once historical enemies for generations, became one. A young Israeli noted in a news program that people, not politics, define history. Barriers created by governments are eventually always torn down by people who finally realize that they had more in common with their alleged enemies than they did with their leaders and alleged friends. |
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