Amira Hass: Expulsion without trucks

Amira Hass

About eight of the 40 families from Dhaher al-Maleh have left their tiny village and have gone to live on the eastern side of the separation fence. They could no longer bear the Israeli ban on building houses.

Bringing down walls

Ma'an

Question: looking at the flimsy nature of the wall, why haven't Palestinians already pulled down slabs, and why don't they continue?

Possible answer: they value their lives.

We are constantly fed the lie that the east-european 'revolutions' of twenty years ago were spontaneous uprisings. The time was right, permission was in effect granted. Most importantly, on the other side of the wall were powerful armies ready to protect the 'revolutionaries'.

Another case springs to mind: what happened when Iraqis stood up to Sadaam Hussein following the first 'Gulf War'? Naively, they had thought Bush Sr. was going to support them in their uprising. Silly little people. They were massacred.

Israel's separation barrier is simply an other obstacle in the lives of the Palestinians who with or without the wall, have been trampled on, humiliated, murdered for decades. And no-one with any power will protect them against their agressor. Quite the contrary: the powerful armies continue to arm the agressor so it can carry on pounding.

Another decade, another wall