Tuesday, August 24, 2004

ei: The writing on the wall

ei: The writing on the wall

Mitchell Plitnick, who is one of two co-directors of Jewish Voice for Peace, published this article about Israel's separation wall on the Electronic Intifada's Web site. His analysis of the Hague Court's ruling on the wall, including the lone American dissenter's reasoning, is informative, as is his general approach to understanding the problem of the wall as an ethical one. It is not, as he explains, legitimate to claim that the wall represents an actual threat to Israelis, as some peace activists claim; in fact, the wall has indeed reduced the number of Israeli civilian casualties by blocking access to would-be Palestinian suicide bombers. The real problem for Israel, he contends, is that the wall is increasing the nation's pariah status as an occupier, encouraging illegal settlement policies, and fomenting anti-Arab xenophobia and oppression that is rotting the ethical basis of Israeli society. For the Palestinians, of course, the wall is making life extremely difficult for individual civilians and next to impossible for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state.

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