Remember the victims of all separation walls

At the same time that an entire group of people is being killed and displaced from its land, which is divided by a separation wall and other divisive devices into disconnected islands, the world is turning a blind eye to the crimes of those responsible. Innocent people are being killed near the wall, including a minister who was killed by the occupation forces, in front of the TV cameras, and no official from any country has done or said anything about it. This is the same time that much of the world was mobilised towards solidarity with Paris to the extent that political leaders held placards insisting “Je suis Charlie”. Similarly, world leaders gathered in Berlin to celebrate the anniversary of the fall of its infamous wall 25 years ago; there they remembered the 100 victims killed over the 50 year period of its existence. We don’t, though, see anyone carrying placards proclaiming “Je suis une victime d’un mur de séparation”.

It has been argued that the Charlie Hebdo victims provoked their killers by what they published; that they were in some way responsible for their own demise. In a way, the people of Berlin were the same; the Berlin Wall came out of a conflict which itself arose as a result of a war launched by the government of the people most affected by the wall. The physical barrier, however, attained a degree of symbolism that far exceeded that normally attached to a simple wall that divided a city; indeed, the symbolic wall overshadowed, both physically and metaphorically, the victims it created, whose tragedies were exaggerated for propaganda purposes by the Western media and politicians. The Berlin Wall was, they said, a symbol of Soviet totalitarianism and an indication of the barbarism of the communist regime in East Germany. The wall divided the city and became a symbol for the division of Europe into the communist East and capitalist West; this conflict was exported around the world in a so-called Cold War between contradictory ideologies each seeking domination over the other.

Last November’s celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall were a practical demonstration of the frailty of the human condition. The celebration of the people power which felled one wall in Europe served only to highlight their hypocrisy in ignoring the wall built by Israel on Palestinian territory across and within the occupied West Bank. That wall has been built in full view of the world’s media and politicians; it separates Palestinians from their families, hospitals, schools, workplaces and each other; it keeps farmers from their fields, and towns and villages from their water supplies; it confirms and strengthens the brutal military occupation of their land by Israel. This wall is a tragedy far in excess of that of the Berlin Wall, but is largely ignored by the same hypocritical world leaders who exulted over the fall of communism and its wall, to which the evils of the world were once attributed.

Despite all of the evidence before our eyes — and with the mainstream and social media at our disposal, nobody can say that they know nothing about it — the world does not want to see the tragedy caused by Israel’s separation wall, even though, at 770 kilometres long and 8 metres high it dwarfs the Berlin Wall’s 155 kilometres and 3.6 metre average height in every way. While the Berlin wall divided one city, the apartheid wall built by Israel divides a whole region and numerous cities, towns and villages. In 2004 the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion that “the construction by Israel of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and its associated regime are contrary to international law”. Not only is the wall illegal, but also “its associated regime”; that is, the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian land.

People still visit the remnants of the Berlin Wall as if on pilgrimage, reminiscing about those who were killed while trying to cross to the West; flowers mark the spots where they were shot so that we might remember the time and place, and salve the conscience of humanity. Novels and poems have been written about it, and academic studies, demonstrating how evil it was; and it was evil.

But so is Israel’s separation wall across the land of Palestine, so where are the demonstrations, the protesters, the media and the politicians? Where are the novels and poems and academic studies? Where are the flowers placed by those come to wipe the tears of an old man as the wall prevents him from hugging his beloved olive trees? If the world can celebrate the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and our leaders can stand in solidarity with Charlie Hebdo, then at the very least they have to acknowledge the existence, victims and pure evil of Israel’s apartheid wall in Palestine.

Translated from Al-Araby Al-Jadid, 2 February, 2015

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.