Wall as a place

Wall as a place

Is difficult to think of a wall as a place. For being a “place” it has first to be a “space” and a wall is hardly a space, is usually considered a boundary, an element that establishes limits. In the case of the one that divides the Occupied Palestinian Territories from the State of Israel it is a place, a very important place indeed. The recognition of it as a place is given at the moment it receives a meaning. Depending in which side people are located, the wall can mean protection or segregation. Is difficult to divide individuals affected by the wall into the ones that live “inside” and the ones that live “outside” the wall, or using their nationalities as distinction of the side they inhabit. The wall has not divided people making a clean cut; it has separated families and communities in its attempt to include all the Israeli settlements dispersed throughout the territory and exclude the Palestinian ones. This mixed population in both sides of the wall can represent the failure of the wall in its attempt of protection, but it can also demonstrate the capacity of individuals to occupy the same space even though they are not supposed to.

It cannot be denied that other characteristic that gives the wall the category of place is the power it has over people, not only regarding mobility but also in marking and defining them; creating a “Wall Regime” (Alatout, 2009). Preventing the mobility of an individual without reason is an act of violence, and from that moment on, this individual is marked. It is also an act of segregation based in arbitrary elements that result from different social constructs, and, in which, one individual is defined as the one with power over the other. The wall not only exercises its physical power over Arab Palestinians who are not always allowed to enter the State of Israel, but it also has psychological and emotional effects. Reminding people that they have no power over their own mobility, which in some cases also includes access to more complete education or health facilities. The constant presence and surveillance of the wall and everything it implies can also change the idea Palestinians have of themselves. Defining their identity in a social construct build by external agents can represent a problem but it can also lead to resistance. In the wall itself forms of resistance can be appreciated, in the form of art or graffiti. Is a way of taking space to advocate for social justice, reinforcing that the wall is a place. A place that segregates and divides, but also a place where individuals can express themselves.

Article:

The Wall in Bethlehem That Segregates and Subjugates Palestinians, by T.M. Krishna (https://thewire.in/117028/the-wall-in-bethlehem-that-segregates-and-subjugates-palestinians/)

Music Video filmed in Palestine: Multiviral by Calle 13 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjSCy1GC6Sc