Where there's a wall, there's a way

After the economic crisis in 2008, someone remarked that it was caused by the destructive human emotions of fear and greed. The impermeable bulk of the apartheid wall as it is known by Palestinians, must have come from a similar source. It was built to protect those who lived in fear, and now inspires fear in those who have to survive on the other side. And its 700km form was supposed to snake along the 1949 Jordanian-Israeli armistice line, or 'green line', but the border constrictor that it is, has greedily consumed 10 per cent of West Bank land, leaving further chunks of fertile land, formerly farmed by Palestinians, (up to 60 metres in some places) of exclusion area - now wasted terrain. It has severed communities, and blocks access for Palestinians to services, livelihoods and religious and cultural centres. Its stranglehold is felt by West Bankers and East Jerusalem dwellers in equal degree, whether they live near it or not. 

The only redeeming quality of this wall, is the fact that it is visible, unlike many other walls the Palestinians contend with in daily life. And as such, has been used as a giant canvas for free expression by local and international artists (notably Banksy), and anyone else who cares to paint or spray. Some results are beautiful and others are ugly. There are arguments to say that the wall should not be beautified, as a reminder of its catastrophic impact. But where there's a wall, there's a way. 

A Gazan told me an Arabic expression during my recent trip there: 'The dogs may bark, but the caravan keeps going.' The wall is an example of this spirit. To resist is to exist. 

All we know is that nothing stays the same. The Berlin Wall came down, so who is to say that this one won't meet the same fate some day.