One of the defining moments in the history of the fall of totalitarian communism in Europe was the dramatic plea from then President Ronald Reagan to then Soviet President Gorbachev at the Berlin Wall –“Mr. Gorbachev — Tear Down This Wall!”, said Mr. Reagan. And amazingly, the wall came down.
Rather than tearing down walls separating peoples and ideologies, Mr. Ariel Sharon, the Butcher of BeerSheba, has BUILT a wall that would make the totalitarians of Old Europe very proud. This is not a wall of security, but a wall of intolerance. This is not a wall of safety, but a wall of separation and spite. This is not a wall of good intent, but a wall of malice.
Israeli bulldozers should be tearing down this wall, not driving over activist peacemakers like Rachel Corrie. American funds should be used to influence Israel to cease and desist from wall-building, not financing it American Jews should be offended by this wall, not supporting and funding it. This wall is an evil wall.
TEAR DOWN THIS WALL, MR. SHARON!
And Mr. Bush, this wall should be treated as part of the terrorist infrastructure of the region, an impediment to the road to peace. A peace-lover does not wall off himself from the world, and Israel can never base its peaceful future on a wall of concrete and metal wire. This wall is an insult to the road to peace, Mr. Bush. This wall defies the concept of peace and good will.
MR. BUSH, TELL MR. SHARON TO TEAR DOWN THIS WALL
And Mr. Arafat and Mr. Abbas, this wall prevents your people from accessing their work, their livelihoods, their own lands which are taken from them by force. It makes to sense to bomb the Israelis and make them want to build such a wall. Mr. Arafat and Mr. Abbas, please make it easier for the paranoid people of Israel to accept the removal of this wall.
Mr. ARAFAT AND MR. ABBAS — PLEASE HELP MR. BUSH CONVINCE MR. SHARON TO TEAR DOWN THIS WALL.
The tearing down of the Berlin Wall was a beautiful thing, a beautiful moment in the reunification of Berlin. Berliners who were separated by that wall are now neighbors. Let us remove the wall of hatred, suspicion, and murder from Palestine. Let us acknowledge realities and let us acknowledge laws and world opinion. Israel must tear down the wall, and leave the occupied territories and allow Palestinians right to return to their homeland and access to their lands and resources under U.N. resolutions. Palestinians and Arabs and Muslims must guarantee Israel a sense of security within the borders set prior to the 1967 war. Only then can the separations and the pain and the suffering and the loss of innocent lives be brought to an end, and can healing begin.
The writer is a member of several falconry and ornithological clubs and organizations. He contributed above article to Media Monitors Network (MMN) from California, USA.
