Security Barrier Divides Worlds
By The Rev. Dr. L. H. Chamberlain, Jr.
Pastor, First Lutheran Church, Lorain, OH

Like a snake winding its way through a jungle, the security barrier twists and turns its way through Israel. The Israelis call it a security fence because the vast majority of its length is made of metal chain links like those protecting high school football fields in the United States. The Palestinians call it "The Wall" because, in Jerusalem proper, it is a huge, concrete barricade dividing Palestinian homes from Israeli commerce. It is both. It is more.

Col. Dr. Eran Lerman, director of the American Jewish Committee's Israel/Middle East office says: "It is an ugly reminder that we have given up on finding partners in the peace process with Palestine."

Dr. Reuven Hazan, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and adviser to the Speaker of the Knesset on changing internal structure of the Israeli Parliament: "More and more of the population are saying to move back to the pre-'67 (the Six-Day War) borders. Follow a map of Israel and draw in the security fence and, unless you have a very large map or a very fine marker, you won't see much difference."

Hanna Siniora, co-executive director of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information and a member of the Palestinian National Council: "A trip that used to take (Palestinians) 20 minutes now takes two hours."

Einat Wilf, foreign policy adviser to MK Shimon Peres: "Since we'll probably never see conventional war, i.e. tanks moving across borders...territory no longer equals security. Therefore we must start dismantling the settlements based on the makeup of the actual population involved and draw a line between areas where mostly Jews live and mostly Palestinians."

Hanna Abu El-Assal, director general of the Bishop Riah Educational Campus in Nazareth (a school for both Arabs and Jews): "To have peace we must have open doors, build bridges and don't make walls."

Capt. Mitch Pilser, official spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces, as we looked into Lebanon while watching United Nations border guards and a Hizbullah outpost: "The northern security fence turns from Syria to the Mediterranean Sea. Hizbullah would kidnap Israeli soldiers and trade their bodies for prisoners. The fence has stopped terrorists from just walking in and shooting at homes...There hasn't been a successful infiltration into a kibbutz or border since building the fence."

An American Rabbi asked, "Why do Palestinian geography books have maps that show no Israel?" Hanna Siniora (Palestinian Central Council) replied: "Israeli textbooks show no Palestine."

A young member of ZAKA, the Orthodox Jewish organization that volunteers to identify and treat with reverence the remains of bodies after terrorist attacks: "The worst thing I have ever seen was a baby buggy with a cute pink blanket on it. Under the blanket was a perfect little baby in a yellow jumper, with its head blown off."

Hanna Siniora, (Palestinian Central Council): "We are not a threat to Israel as a nation. Israel is stronger than many western countries, including the United Kingdom and France. We cannot defeat you. It is personal security that is the problem. The rockets and bombings are just pinpricks reminding Israel we have needs that must be addressed." A different American rabbi responded: "The pinpricks, as you called them are children--ours and yours. Golda Meir once said that 'We'll only have peace when they love their children more than they hate us.'"

Asher Susser, director at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies: "If one has to face the choice between the Bible (the territory promised by God from Egypt to Syria--from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River) and the fate of the Jewish people, the Bible has got to be set aside."

Mohammad M. Yaghi, executive director of the Palestinian Center for Mass Communication and former journalist for the Palestine Liberation Organization: "The occupation rationale cannot be made on the basis of suicide bombers. They didn't start until after the occupation. When people lose hope they will do anything."

Moshe Negbi, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem speaking on the Ministry of Justice: "The West Bank is the only occupied people in history that have the rights to petition the governing judiciary against the occupying army. Many times the army (in placing the security barrier) has bowed to the authority of the Israeli court."

American tourist: "The security wall looks just like the sound barriers along the expressway. I thought I was on I-90 going into Cleveland when I saw it."