The Wall

The Wall.  Known to Israelis as the Security Barrier.  Known to Palestinians as the Apartheid Wall.  Known to me as one of the most hideous scars in this ancient city and beautiful land.   From my location on Jerusalem-Hebron Road in Bethlehem, I can see it out the front windows of the Guest House and out my window on the back side of the Guest House.  It is one of the harsh realities of life in the West Bank, and something that I have faced, quite literally, since the day I arrived, but have chosen not to write about until now.  The Wall runs through Bethlehem and, when it was erected, cut off dozens of businesses and families from the rest of Bethlehem.  Not surprisingly, those businesses failed and an Israeli settlement is now being built in that area instead.

Down the street from me

Israel claims the Wall was built for security reasons, to stop suicide bombings during the Second Intifada in the early 2000’s.  I won’t take space here to argue whether or not the decline in suicide bombings can be directly attributed to the construction of the Wall. Arguments can easily be made both ways. Suffice it to say that Wall is not yet complete and it is quite possible to get around it if one is determined to do so.  Instead, I will talk about what the Wall is and what is means to Palestinian life.

Where the Wall is complete (like in and around Bethlehem and Jerusalem), it is 28 feet high.  The Berlin Wall was 11 feet high.  In many places it is extensive electrified fencing with 60 foot exclusion zones on either side. If the Wall were truly for security, it would run along the Green Line which marks the 1967 boundary between Israel and the West Bank and East Jerusalem and has been the starting point for negotiations in the peace process. Instead, 85 percent of the Wall runs inside the Green Line.   If it ran along the Green Line, it would be 200 miles long. Instead, its final proposed route is over 400 miles long and zigzags in and around Palestinian villages, agricultural land and water resources.  It divides some Palestinian towns right down the middle, separating farmers from their land, workers from their jobs and students from their schools.  Other towns are completely surrounded by it. When completed, the Wall will annex almost half of the West Bank into Israel, leaving Palestinians living in isolated ghettos with access between these areas strictly controlled by Israel.  In practice, this system is already in place.   As of February, there are 99 checkpoints in the West Bank and between the West Bank and Israel.  Palestinians are required to get a permit to enter Israel, and permits are most often denied.

What does this mean for Palestinian life?  For farmers cut off from their property, it means they cannot farm and will possibly lose their land due to Israel’s draconian Absentee Owner law which states that if farmland is left fallow for four years it becomes “state” land. The Wall enables Israel to take Palestinian land from its owners who, because of the Wall, cannot access it.  Palestinian agricultural products often can’t get to markets in Israel, or outside of Israel for that matter since Israel controls all borders.  Fruits and vegetables either rot or farmers give up because the available markets in the West Bank are glutted. Farmers then, for economic reasons, don’t farm their land and the Wall wins again. For Palestinians with work permits for Israel, it means arriving at crowded checkpoints by 5am, waiting for hours to get through, and making sure to get back before the checkpoint closes for the evening. 

Bethlehem checkpoint

Getting through a checkpoint can mean having all your belonging dumped out on the ground, being searched, harassed, humiliated, and detained and even denied entry.  People in need of urgent medical care after checkpoints have closed for the day are often denied entry to Israel for treatment.  Though it is hard to find complete numbers, in recent years dozens of people have died at checkpoints attempting to get medical care.  The same goes for women in labor.  Dozens of babies have been born at – and died at – checkpoints, along with their mothers.  I have Palestinian Christian friends in Bethlehem who have not been to the Holy Sites in Jerusalem, which is literally only a 15 minute drive, because they cannot get a permit.  With my American passport, I can easily pass through checkpoints.  My Palestinian friends with American passports cannot.  Their passport says they were born in Palestine so they are subjected to different rules than me.

The Palestinian village of Bil’in has organized weekly demonstrations since 2005 to protest

Protests in Bil'in

the construction of the Wall whose route separates the village from more than half of its agricultural land.  Another draconian Israeli military law states that a protest or even a procession of 10 or more people is illegal and the military is then allowed to forcefully disperse the protesters.  Israeli border guards in Bil’in regularly use stun grenades, tear gas and rubber coated bullets to disband these demonstrations, maiming and even killing peaceful Palestinian protesters. Very seldom, if ever, are perpetrators from the Israeli security forces held accountable for these injuries and deaths.

View from Wi'am

So, what does the Wall mean in Bethlehem?  Simply put, it is huge and ugly.  Vehicular traffic at the checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem is very slow moving during rush hour.  I can only imagine how much worse it is for the hundreds of Palestinians who stand in line for hours to pass through on foot, especially in the sweltering heat of summer.  The Wall snakes in and around greater Bethlehem and especially around the many illegal Israeli settlements built on hilltops surrounding Bethlehem, separating this Palestinian land from the West Bank.  The Wall contributes to high unemployment in Bethlehem and even higher employment throughout the rest of the West Bank. Israel controls all access to water in the West Bank so water is scarce in agricultural areas and expensive in Bethlehem where it has to be purchased. At Wi’am, a Christian ministry down the street from me that is right next to the wall, soldiers spray “skunk water” on Palestinian children playing in their playground. 

Note skunk water canyon above bush

In this beautiful, ancient city where Christ was born, the vile reality of Occupation stares residents and visitors alike in the face. It is ugly. It is harsh. It is oppressive.

Where is God in this place?  He is shown in the determination of Palestinians to live as normal a life as possible.  He is shown in the faces of parents who send their children to school for the same reason parents around the world do – so that they might have a better life.  He is shown in the steadfastness of Christians here who, at less than 2% of the population, are a faithful remnant of what used to be a large and vibrant community tracing their roots back to the day of Pentecost, literally, the “living stones”.   I stand in awe of their witness, their resolve, their hope.