Do fences make
good neighbors? Depends on the context, I suppose. Anyway, whoever did
invent fences may not have had any idea as to how far this invention would
go. From fences around houses, to walls to keep jailbirds in, to the Great
Wall of China, there have been many variations to this invention. Needless
to say, the one that became a symbol for segregation in the 20th century
was the Berlin Wall. With its departure, one more is there to take its
place in the present century in the form of the barrier that Israel has
been surreptitiously putting up in the past few years. As of now, the
barrier has no name and it is to be hoped that it will not be around long
enough for it to gain one and become another symbol of man’s inhumanity
towards man.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in The Hague last week that
the barrier that Israel is putting up, parts of which encroach on occupied
territory, is illegal and cannot justify security concerns. The decision
has been hailed by Arab nations, many of whom have requested the UN to
ensure that this illegal barrier be brought down. There is a possibility
of them pushing for a resolution in the matter and the General Assembly
may be expected to meet soon in this regard. But there is a big question
mark as to how the ruling will be implemented. Israel and Ariel Sharon are
defiant, stating that the ICJ’s ruling is not binding on them, as the
barrier is needed to maintain the security of the Israelis, whilst the
Palestinians say that it is nothing but a land-grabbing measure.
Last year, a BBC documentary revealed how the barrier has made the life of
the ordinary Palestinian absolutely unbearable. Families are being forced
to take circumlocutory routes, for what were distances that could earlier
be traversed by foot. To make matter worse, the longer routes often end up
at Israeli checkpoints that block both exit and entry. Many extended
families have been driven apart on account of this barrier. The barriers
have also infringed Palestinians’ access to schools, workplaces and
hospitals, and ordinary citizens have been put to untold hardship and
inconvenience.
It is hard to believe that the Israelis, despite being the products of
historical discrimination, show no qualms about discriminating against
their neighbors and original occupants of the land. For a race that
remained largely homeless till they came and settled in what they believed
to be the Promised Land, it was the British who first encouraged them in
their claims via the Balfour Declaration made during World War I. Britain
was then fighting to win control of Palestine from the Ottoman Empire, and
it hoped that by making the promise of a homeland, it would be able to
able to garner the support of the Jewish leaders in the United Kingdom and
America in their war efforts. At the same time, in an all is fair in war
attitude, the British promised independence to many Arab groups in the
Middle East, with the intention of gaining their support also against the
Ottomans. The promises were left vague but the Arab leaders assumed that
it would include an independent state of Palestine. But eventually, it
turned out to be the case of a broken promise and the Jews and
Palestinians found themselves clashing continuously over the land.
Finally, the UN passed a resolution in1947 that divided the country into
Jewish and Palestinian land and the state of Israel came into being on
14th May 1948. This raised the hackles of the surrounding Arab states,
which refused to accept the formation of Israel leading to the first of
many Arab-Israeli conflicts. Since then, it has been an uneasy state of
affairs, and the last few years have seen the worst kind of conflicts
between the two warring groups.
In the midst of all this is the blind support that Israel has received
from America. The US has already spoken out against the ICJ ruling and it
is unlikely that the matter of the dismantling of the barrier will even
come up at the Security Council, since it is expected that the US will use
its power of veto to block this resolution, as much as it has done so for
earlier anti-Israeli ones.
So, do good fences make good neighbors? In this case, it certainly doesn’t
seem so. Wonder how many lives will have be snuffed out and tragedies
befall, before both peoples come to the conclusion that peaceful
co-existence can be the only answer, if future generations have to live to
tell the tale.
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