A wall

You have probably heard about the wall/separation barrier/security fence that the Israeli government decided to start building in June 2002. Its purpose is to control Palestinian movement into Israel. I will write more about this issue later as it is the most obvious symbol of the occupation and it pollutes the landscape around the Bethlehem area.

Standing right next to the wall, I feel the energy being sucked out of me. Few things are uglier than unpainted concrete that blocks the sun out. Most of the wall is built within the West Bank, which means that it often separates Palestinians from their fields, splitting up families and shrinking the Palestinian area. I know that facts like these are difficult to picture. I magine you're 7 years old. One day you wake up and there's an electrical fence between your house and your school. After a few weeks the fence has turned into a 8 metres high concrete wall. There's a gate or checkpoint you can enter through to get to your school. The checkpoint is controlled by armed soldiers. Sometimes they're nice, sometimes they shout at you in a language you don't understand and sometimes they ignore you and sometimes you're not allowed to pass through.