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.
