Israeli Walls

Don't fence me in

What is it with powerful people and walls? Take the recent example involving the U.S.

President-elect Donald Trump which the media enjoyed bringing to the attention of the world. Mr Trump stated during his candidacy announcement speech in 2015: "I will build a great wall - and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me - and I'll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great wall on the southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Is he, and other wall builders, so blinkered by megalomania that they have not been able to see the lessons which history has to offer on "walls"?

Mr Trump wants  to keep people out of his country. I remember being in Berlin in the 1960s, a few years after the Berlin wall had been built. The East German leader, Walter Ulbricht, in collaboration with the Soviet President, Nikita Khrushchev, wanted to wall the people in. They wanted to stop the people leaving their homeland. They billed it as an Anti-Fascist Protection Wall to keep western influences out of communist East Germany. Few would disagree however that this Wall of Shame, as West Berlin's Mayor, Willy Brandt, called it, was purely to imprison the East Berliners. A name cannot hide an intent.

That wall lasted fewer than thirty years. The few bits and pieces that remain today attract some curious, history-orientated tourists, and serve as a reminder to the stupidity of attempting to imprison populations.

Admiring an eyesore in Berlin in the 1960s.

One could also argue that the Great Wall of China is experiencing, only recently, its main effect on China, many hundreds of years after its construction. And it is drawing people to the country as tourists rather than trying to deny them entry.

Walls seem to be built strongly into the psyche and written emphatically into the history of the people of Israel. It seems as though ever since the Israelites set foot into this area they have had a thing with walls. Around 1200 B.C. after crossing the Jordan River from Moab at the end of their desert wanderings they were confronted by the city of Jericho, the gateway to Canaan. And the city was surrounded by a wall.

To push on into Canaan, to their planned destination, they would have to move through Jericho territory. Jericho would have to be defeated to have this access. But it was heavily defended. Joshua, the Leader of the Israelites, lay siege to the city, as the writer of the Book of Joshua wrote (Joshua 6:1): " Now Jericho was tightly shut up  because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in."

We are not told how long the siege lasted because immediately following is the remarkable story of the walls of Jericho collapsing in the face of the Israelite processions. This surely should have been an indication to the Israelites that walls do not achieve their stated purpose. They represent merely an annoying impediment in the onward march of history.

Jerusalem also has often been defined by walls. It is interesting how today archaeologists are endeavouring to determine the exact location of the various walls in Jerusalem's history - the first wall, the second wall, the Turkish wall, the third wall. None of these, history enlightens, was able to achieve its primary purpose. Yes, they all came tumbling down.

Now driving through these ancient biblical lands one again can see walls being erected. What an unsightly structure was seen when passing from the Palestinian lands around Bethlehem to Jewish Israel. How can a six metre high blight on the landscape be justified? This was the Israeli West Bank Separation Barrier. It was being built, as those in power claim, as security against attack by Palestinians extremists. Others have called it an Apartheid Wall, a segregation wall. Is Israel creating a ghetto for itself? Not only will it be a 700 kilometre monstrosity running through the countryside, many in the world see it as a blight on the integrity of the Israeli nation.

History tells us that it also will not fulfil its purpose.

Mr Netanyahu, tear down those walls! Make friends and not enemies.

A separation wall in Israel