Separation Barrier
Separation Barrier; Safety Measure or
Deprivation of People?
Jessica de Veer
Separation Barrier
After spending five weeks in Israel, everyone I knew wanted to know how
my trip was and they always started it off with the same question: “Did you feel
safe?”. Of-course I felt safe. How could you feel unsafe surrounded by an
enormous wall protecting Israel? But there is more to the wall than what most
people know, then what I knew. When you’re standing in front of this enormous
continuous block of concrete covered with large barbed wire spirals and electric
fencing, you start to wonder how severe the situation must be to have come to
the decision of protecting the country with these barriers, but then, you are struck
by so many markings on the walls that overpower the intimidation of the barbed
wire and electric fencing. The graffiti on the walls speaks of the pain on both
sides, and as separated, as they may seem, they ultimately come together as
one voice. But is this wall really protecting the people of Israel or is it more of a
mechanism to deprive Palestinians?
When discussing the separation barrier, or the “wall” as many call it in
Israel, according to Michel Warschawski it is “a pivotal concept in the life of every
Israeli: it is a formative element in our collective life, it defines our horizons,
serves as the boundary line between threat and the feeling of safety and
between enemies and brothers” (Warschawski, 2002), and although many
Israelis share this opinion of the wall, there are always exceptions. Safety is an
essential point in the daily lives of the Israeli people and therefore they have
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Separation Barrier
always wanted to direct the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without international
interference when talking about their borders and although the global community
involves themselves, Israel always has the last words. This responsibility has
been taken since the time of David Ben-Gurion who encouraged “self-reliance
based on his faith that the Jewish people would shape their own destiny and
capacity for self-defense (Shlaim, 2001: 97), therefore, Israel has pursued to
avoid relying on security from arbitrators. On the other hand, Israel has
contemplated liaising with the United States, United Nations, the European
Union and, Russia. An example of this would be the “road map” proposed in a
speech by then president George W. Bush in 2002. The main factors of this
“road map” are that “Palestinian Authority reform and abandonment of the use of
violence in exchange for statehood, and Israeli support for a reformed
Palestinian government and halt of Jewish settlement activity in the West bank
and Gaza once the threat of violence from Palestinian terrorism is removed” 1
and according to this same resource, when having conducted a shared survey of
Israeli and Palestinian public opinion in March 2005, 59% of Palestinians and
60% of Israelis support the road map plan but 35% of Palestinians and 36% of
Israelis opposed it. The road map was put to a halt after Israel retaliated and
Palestine did not comply with duties put in place in the first period. When asked
1 Poll #11: Palestinians and Israelis disagree on how to proceed with the peace
process, March 16, 2005, Poll conducted by the Palestinian center for policy and
Survey Research (PSR) in Ramallah and the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for
the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
http://truman.huji.ac.il/polls.asp
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Separation Barrier
what the fundamental reason for building the wall was, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs says that it saves lives and proves its case with images of incidents and
victims of terrorism and data shows that indeed there has been a decrease in
amounts of attacks and casualties since the creation of the wall. “In 2003 there
was a 30% decrease in the number of attacks and a 50% decrease in the
number of casualties.”2 Latest data shows that in 2007 there were only 3 deaths,
which is a drastic decrease, compared to the 220 in 2002. The duty of not only
the Israeli government but of all governments is to “protect the lives of their
citizens and boundaries of the state from external threat” (Jacoby, 2007).
Pursuing the separation barrier further you also have the Palestinian
aspect of the issue. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are the victims of “a
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