One More Slab in the Wall

On my trip to Ramallah on Monday and to Bethlehem yesterday, I had my first up-close view of the infamous Israeli security barrier, being built to separate Israel from the West Bank. It is a mixture of wire fences in some places and massive concrete slabs in others, dotted with watchtowers and paralleled by off-limits roads for use only by the border police.

The cement sections of the wall are remeniscent of the Berlin Wall. The Palestinians argue that Israel is using the barrier to unilaterally establish its future borders with an eventual Palestinian state. Israel insists that the wall is necessary to keep out potential attackers. What no one disputes is the fact that in a number of places, the route of the wall cuts deep into Palestinian territory and, in the process, cuts some villages and farms in two, severely disrupts agriculture, commerce and normal social intercourse.

One of the waiters I have got to know at the restaurant at my hotel in east Jerusalem is Nawaf al-Hilbou, a 23-year-old student of computer engineering at Al-Quds University who designs websites.

You might like to have a look at one of them, and click on the film that he has produced about the wall.


http://www.alternativetours.ps