Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Breaking down walls in Berlin and the Israeli occupied west bank

Yesterday [9 November 2009] marked year 20 of the 'Mauerfall', the end of the wall separating East Berlin from West Berlin, thereby heralding the collapse of Communism in Europe. End ink flowed; endless purple prose graced speeches of politicians; endless tales of where were you at the momentous moment?; in brief, a pause for joy and celebration in a changed world.
Yet, walls exist elsewhere! Most notably in the Israeli held west bank of Palestine where the Israeli government of moderate right, soft left, and hard core right wing, have continued building a wall on Palestinian territory to safeguard the sanctity of Israel. Mind you, not the 1967 borders, but on Palestinian land, which divides families from their land and livelihood, thereby furthering the illegal land grab of Jewish settlers, and the separation of contiguous Palestinian territory, with the result of creating 'Bantustans' and killing any two state solutions.
And on this anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Palestinians tore down sections of this Israeli wall, but hardly stirring comments in the mainstream global press. And thus silence prevails on the death of a people's homeland. Yet the Palestinians are not taking things lying down; they resist in symbolic actions, which in spite of the danger they incur, they are willing to face and 'submit' the Israeli Defence Force's repression. Such determination and courage will in the end spell the death of Zionism!

No comments:

Post a Comment