Statement on recent events surrounding Israel's "Apartheid Wall"
ISRAEL"S Law Of Return gives every Jew the right to automatically acquire citizenship(LAW OF RETURN, 5710-1950). As a secular Jew living in South Africa I would like to renounce this right before the eyes of the world in protest at the construction of a "seperation barrier" walling off Israel from the West Bank , the Palestinian Authority, and consequently the entire world. This barrier dubbed "the apartheid wall" by Palestinians, is similar in its intention and scope to the Berlin Wall
The most obvious historical parallel to the barrier, the Berlin Wall, was 155 kilometers long. Israel's barrier, still under construction, is expected to reach at least 650 kilometers in lenght. The average height of the Berlin Wall was 3.6 metres, compared with the current height of Israel's Wall -- 8 metres.
Israel's barrier is therefore planned to be four times as long and in places twice as high as the Berlin Wall. During the past two weeks, both the highest court in Israel and the highest court in the international legal system, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, have issued rulings condemning Israeli states' controversial security barrier. This is in addition to a UN resolution on June 07 2004 condemning Israel's construction of the wall.
As a South African who has lived under and experienced apartheid, I say: Stop this madness. The wall is nothing more than a sign that the Israeli state is caving into pressure from extremists and throwing away both the opportunity for peace and the freedom to coexist independently from fear. Let go of your paranoia and the mental straightjacket which presumes that anybody can be seperated from the international community for very long or expect to enjoy a reasonable and fulfilled life behind a wall.
This wall is the real "apartheid", since building it creates the impression that the situation is intractable and beyond help, while Palestinians and Israeli's alike, seem incapable of finding a solution for themselves without interfearance from global super-powers like Britain and America.
The recent crisis has its roots in the failure of both the Clinton and Bush administration to facilitate the peace process in complete honesty and to allow peace negotiations to occur free from the pressure of television ratings, domestic politics and the expectations from foreign donors who have no right to be involved in the process to begin with. As a secular Jew, living in the diaspora, I must now forego my right to return to Israel in the hope that people living in the Middle East will come to similar conclusions about themselves and the conflict will resolve itself.
David Robert Lewis
Cape Town
21-07-2004
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