The Fall of the Jerusalem Wall

On January 11, 2013 a group of Palestinians erected tents in an area designated E1, which is east of Jerusalem. They set up this tent city, named Bab Al-shams, to protest the building of an Israeli settlement that is scheduled to go there later this year. The reasoning goes that Israeli settlements are still standing because by the time anybody told the settlers to move, “facts on the ground” already existed. Almost immediately, Israeli police arrived on the scene with eviction papers. As is to be expected with a protest, the residents of Bab Al-shams refused to move. Later that day the Israeli Supreme Court ordered a stay of eviction for six days while they sorted out the issue. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, objected to the stay and demanded the Courts to lift it. Rather than wait for the Court to lift the stay or make any other decisions, Netanyahu sent in police to arrest everyone in the camp and remove them from the property. Fortunately nobody was killed and only six people reported minor injuries.

There are a couple major themes in this set of developments that I would like to take a deeper look at. The first is that Palestinians have finally starting organizing large non-violent protests. The second is that Benjamin Netanyahu specifically, and Israel in general, is unwilling to make up their mind about which is the lesser of two evils: an independent Palestinian state or full acceptance of all inhabitants of the Holy Land.

Israel has been unwilling to deconstruct the wall for security reasons. Palestinians have done themselves absolutely no favors in this regard. Consistent support for the terrorist group Hamas has alienated the international community and Israel can point to incessant violence to quiet critics. Mahmoud Abbas, the Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, has made statements in recent months condemning the use of terrorism and violence in the struggle for independence. Much of the Arab Spring movement has centered around a shift to nonviolent protest to create government change. Extremist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood are now finding themselves in a new position: power. The Taliban is a prime example of a group of people that were very good at fighting the powers that be until they became the powers that are. In fact, the history of Taliban rule in Afghanistan is what the international community is afraid will happen in Egypt now and potentially happen in Palestine if they become a country.

The Carter and Reagan doctrines promised religious extremists that if they denounced communism they would money, weapons, and other aid. The Taliban in Afghanistan and the Ba'ath parties in Iraq and Syria jumped at the chance to fight for independence. Twenty years later the United States fought against the very people we had put into power. Even in Egypt, the secular National Democratic Party was supported by the United States and imposed authoritarian rule on its people. Violent people were willing to claim democracy over socialism in order to gain access to guns, food, and money. Democracies were set up in countries all over the Middle East even though there was rarely any real opposition and never a chance for a religious minority to attain office. Only one of these countries has built a wall to cordon off the minorities to remind them that they are not welcome in their homeland.

Bab Al-shams is a great start to a protest movement. The problem is that there are over 100 officially recognized Israeli settlements with over 300,000 inhabitants. If the PLO organized a sit-in of 1,000 Palestinians at every settlement it would very quickly be seen as an attack on Israel. The history of violence between the two groups is so long and well-documented that it would only make sense that such a large movement of people could only mean trouble. I have another idea in mind. Similar to the Hands Across America movement of the 1980's, Palestinians should stand facing the wall, hand in hand, silently protesting its existence until the world takes notice. It won't take long. As soon as everyone shows up and begins the protest, Mahmoud Abbas should appear before the United Nations imploring them to recognize both the plight of the Palestinian people and their right to govern themselves. This move would still provoke a response from Israel but it would be less likely to be seen as a possible attack. Israeli Defense Forces would immediately demand the people to clear away from the wall and disperse. Again, the point of a protest is specifically to not respond to such demands.

Best case scenario is that the United Nations declares the settlements to be illegal and that the settlers must return to Israel while the PLO becomes the officially recognized government of the new Palestinian nation. Worst case scenario is that a lot of peaceful protesters will be killed before the world moves to action. Either way there is one country that stands in the way of all of this: the United States. Both President Obama and Vice President Biden have made public statements condemning continued building of settlements. In fact, the E1 settlement is seen as a slap in the face of the US government after the presidential election. Patience has grown thin among many in the administration. American foreign policy is being focused on reducing the military role in Afghanistan and preventing a nuclear Iran. Responding to peaceful protest with continued violence or oppression would not only respark Islamic anger towards the US but would also push Ayatollah Khomeini to change his mind on his budding nuclear program. After a well-publicized protest, akin to the movements of the Arab Spring, the United States would be hard-pressed to maintain their current level of support. As President Obama has famously said, “After my election, I'll have more flexibility.”

With the creation of a new Arab state, there will be plenty of leadership needed to make sure that things go smoothly. There will need to be many press conferences declaring that the existential crisis in Israel is over and that the Jewish state has nothing to fear from the Arab world at large. Mohammed Morsi, President of Egypy, and Recep Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey, are looking for way to both calm tensions at home and also express their power in the international realm. The Arab League has begun to show that they want to be considered as prestigious as NATO or ASEAN and this would provide them with the chance. Thus the creation and maintenance of an independent Palestinian nation might have a real chance this time. With the safety and security of both Israelis and Palestinians no longer in question, there will be no future need for a security wall to separate them. Similar to the fabled city of Jericho, I hope we shall someday see the fall of the Jerusalem Wall.