Mending Walls and Separation Barriers

Israel is currently in the middle of the completion of the West Bank barrier. According to BBC News, The West Bank barrier has been highly controversial ever since the Israeli government decided to build it. . . . and it remains a bitter bone of contention after Israel's evacuation of settlements in the Gaza Strip (BBC, 2005). Many people dont know of, and have

never heard of this particular barrier. In fact, I was not aware of this barrier until just recently. I believe that the purpose of the barrier is to separate the people of Israel and the people of Palestine. There is not just one reason that the barrier exists because it all depends on who you ask. The Israeli government insists, The barrier is essential to prevent Palestine would-be suicide bombers from entering Israel and attacking Israeli civilians, as has happened many times during the Palestine intifada (ibid).On the other hand. Palestine government argues, The security barrier brings with it tremendous economic and daily living hardships. . . . . (Ashraw, 2004). The Israelis are probably just trying to keep their people safe. In fact, since the barrier has been built, the numbers of suicide bombings have gone down significantly. Wikipedia states, This particular barrier is currently under construction, but should have a final sum of seven hundred kilometers in distance, (Harris, 2013). Most of the West Bank barrier, or wall, consists of a large concrete barrier in between two barbed wire fences that surround Israel and Palestine (ibid). There are ditches on both sides of the wall. The ditch on the Israel side of the wall gives a place for a soldier to make sure that nobody gets inside or outside of the gate. The ditch on the Palestine side is to keep all of the people of Palestine from getting through the gate. A team of reporters visited some Palestinian citizens that lived near the barrier. These reporters found that, since Israel claims the land for itself, the Palestinian police are not able to operate properly, but the Israeli police also refuse to enter the camp, so its like a war zone. These reporters stated Local drug dealers sit in the sun at the entrance, under the gaze of Israeli soldiers who do nothing. The UN runs the schools, collects the rubbish and fights a losing battle to sort out sanitation. The Israelis refuse. It is a place without government, without government services and without much hope. And nobody seems to care, (The Guardian, 2013). On the other side of the wall, in Israel, the barrier seems to be affecting the Israelis in a significant way.

Many Israelis claim that they feel safer, and their opinions are backed up since many terrorist attacks have decreased. Overall, the West Bank barrier is a positive and negative wall. The West Bank barrier relates to a poem conducted by Robert Frost in 1915. The title of the poem is Mending Walls. Of course, in both situations, there is a physical wall separating

two forces. Once you get deeper into the poem, there are many more similarities. In the poem, Frosts neighbor keeps saying, Good fences make good neighbours, (27 & 45). Frost, on the other hand, says, Something there is that doesnt love a wall, (1 & 35). Frost and his neighbor disagree about the fence that separates their two lands, just as the Israelis and Palestinians disagree about the barrier separating them. Frost states that fences are for cows, but that there are no cows around (31). The cows relating to the barrier are probably the suicide bombings that kept happening in Israel. Even though Frost and his neighbor disagree about the wall between them, they keep building the wall up (38-45). Even though the Israelis and the Palestinians disagree about the barrier separating them, they keep building up the wall. There are many similarities between the West Bank barrier and Frosts poem, just as there are many similarities to many situations in our lives.