On July 9, the International Court of Justice ruled officially that
the separation barrier built by Israel inside the West Bank was illegal
and in breach of the international laws and therefore, should be
removed.
In fact, no matter what decision the International Court would make,
to the Palestinians and the peace-loving people all over the world there
is only one explanation, to wit, that Israel built a separation barrier
unilaterally is meant to make trouble. As it was stated on July 6 by the
Chairman of the League of Arab States (LAS) when he called on all the Arab
states to exert pressure on Israel and force the latter to remove the
separation barrier that featured racial discrimination, "The separation
barrier cuts off the mutual contact and social and economic exchanges
between peoples and aims at turning the Palestine Region into a big
prison."
How many man-made barriers have been built in history to cut off
exchanges and communications among peoples!
The "iron curtain" policy that the UK former Prime Minister Churchill
advocated after WW II was an invisible barrier, which touched off the Cold
War that lasted for nearly half a century. The widely known Berlin Wall,
which was also the symbol of the Cold War, was another kind of barrier and
also the front line of two camps confronting each other. Hundreds and
thousands of German families were separated by the wall and lived a
painful and separated life for decades. In order to stop Mexican migrants
from entering into the US, the US even built a steel wall along the border
between the US and Mexico. Given the strategic need and consideration of
"engaging the enemy beyond the border", the US has been insisting on
developing TMD and NMD regardless of the objection of most of the
countries, which aims at building a "steel wall" beyond the US territory.
For that purpose, the US has been lobbying hard among the related counties
in the hope of persuading the latter to join in the TMD research and
development. On July 7, the US and Australia signed a memorandum in
Washington on joint research and development of missile defense system. On
the same day, the US and Japan decided to carry out joint missile
interception test in the Hawaii Area in the next two years. The purpose of
the US is no other than deploying theater missile defense system in the
western Pacific Ocean according to its own plan, which is like a barrier
to ward off the missile threat from the so-called adversary countries
beyond its own border.
What's the fate of all these barriers?
With the disintegration of the former Soviet Union and the unexpected
changes of the Eastern Europe, the "iron curtain" advocated by Mr.
Churchill disappeared gradually and the ideological wall has gone with the
wind. When the Cold War ended, the Berlin Wall has fallen apart in the
end. The US government is puzzling its brains on what to do with the steel
wall lying at the border of the US and Mexico because it is accused for
hindering the development of the American Free Trade Zone. With regard to
the TMD plan, the US will not be able to have its way that easily either.
Since some countries sitting at the western bank of the Pacific Ocean
understand that if they join the U.S. in building a "wall", they will,
beyond any doubt, bind themselves to the American chariot, which is not
what they want to see.
All these previous examples and warnings are not convincing enough to
sway the Sharon Authority and it insists on building and completing the
separation barrier, which means without any doubt that Israel refuses to
see its error and insists on sticking to its wrong course. The dispute
between Israel and Palestine has lasted for more than half a century and
both parties have experienced many times of bloody conflicts and the fresh
blood of the Israel and the Palestinian people has soaked red the land of
the Middle East. The Israel practice of building a separation barrier
unilaterally is non other than a passive reaction to the complex relations
between Israel and Palestine, which can only increase the painfulness of
the straddled Palestinians and deepen the national hatred, hence a setback
in the Middle East Peace Process.
Maybe the method of Dayu in taming the flood in ancient China can
serve as reference. That is, whether it is a conflict or dispute, it can
only be handled properly by channeling instead of blocking. After all,
most of the people in the world are for peace not war.
Survived from so many hardships and disasters, all the brothers and
sisters will cast away all the hatred when they meet each other again. All
the peace-loving people are looking forward to the day when the separation
barrier is removed.
By Ding Zengyi
(July 13, PLA Daily)