We build too many walls and not enough bridges.

A couple of weeks ago our class went on a tour of the Separation Wall, a separation barrier that Israel started building in the West Bank starting in 2002. We were very lucky to have as our guide Danny Seideman, a prominent Israeli human rights lawyer, who shared his knowledge and opinion of the current situation here in Jerusalem.

The first day we arrived in Israel, our teachers and directors encouraged us to not takes sides in the Israeli-Palestine conflict. I am a fly on the wall, just listening to people's opinions and observing the situation, trying to understand both sides and peoples. It is very interesting to live at the core of the problem. The Jerusalem Center is actually located between the 1949-1967 Armistice "green line" and the municipal boundary (separation wall). 

Danny Seideman shed further light on these pressing issues. Here are some of his comments:

"Israel = too much history, not enough geography."

"History happens here 10 minutes ago and 3000 years ago."

"The Old City is roughly 1 square kilometer. Malls in the US are bigger then this. Inside the city, it's Zionism vs. Palestinian nationalism. But it's also Judaism vs. Islam vs. Christianity. But the good news? Jerusalem is a meeting place of 3 great religions and currently there is very little bloodshed in the city."

Concerning the Israeli settlements, Israel has been building these towns since 1967 in East Jerusalem and Palestine area. While Israel calls these places neighborhoods, everyone else refers to them as settlements and illegal. They have been built to keep Israel an undivided city. But how do you justify taking land away from the Palestinians?

The Wall.

                     

Separates Palestinians from Palestinians, not Jews from Palestinians. 

Cuts through villages. A 5 minute walk to hospitals and schools becomes a 25-mile drive. 

"The wall is not a solution. It is a limited, tactical tool. The result is a harsh, humanitarian impact." 

"The fence is taking shape as both a physical barrier and a psychological separation that literally sums up  in concrete and barbed wire the many dead ends of the peace process." (source)

I wonder what the future holds for this part of the world. There's a lot of hard work ahead, but hopefully people will see the wisdom in working something out. After all, as the old Chinese proverb says, "The more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed during war."