Paint the Israeli Separation Barrier in the Usdan Courtyard

, by Lev PlavesMica TaliaferroZak KirwoodPaul BlasenheimJenny Ajl,

From Saturday until Wednesday you may notice a free-standing 9-feet-tall wall in the Usdan courtyard. As members of Awareness, Dialogue, and Action about Palestine/Israel Today (ADAPT), we intend for this wall to represent the very real Israeli West Bank separation barrier. This barrier has devastated Palestinian life in a number of ways, including the seizure of Palestinian land for its construction, the blockage of Palestinian access to vital health and medical services, and the restriction of movement that has made it extremely difficult for Palestinians to sustain themselves economically. Much of the controversy over the wall stems from the fact that a great deal of the 640km (400-mile) barrier, started in 2002, is being built on territory Israel occupied in 1967, rather than along the internationally recognized boundary between Israel and the West Bank (BBC).

You may also notice that the wall will be mostly blank, in contrast to the actual separation barrier, which is covered in artwork and graffiti done by Palestinians and international activists. We invite everyone to come and paint whatever they want on this wall. We will have supplies and spray paint available. Specific times to join us in decorating the wall will be posted next to it. There is no restriction as to the views that may be expressed on the wall (except for obscene material). Please only join us in painting it during the stated times, as we intend for this to be an opportunity for tangible dialogue on an issue that many on campus are afraid to talk about.

  • Painter

    Please provide the equivalent amount of RED paint needed to represent the blood spilled by the suicide attacks perpetrated by “Shaheeds”. L.A.W. (Love a wall).

  • Abdul

    Why is it that the Palestinians are the only oppressed group that gets support from Wesleyan students? There are many oppressed groups that have suffered far more than the Palestinians. Why can’t they get any love?

  • non-Wesleyan student

    The situation for Palestinians is a unique situation, as Barghouti explains in this article. It is also a situation for which Americans play a strong hand.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-lydon/mustafa-barghouti-is-ther_b_559691.html

  • Evan

    The concept of the Palestinians as “oppressed” people is an insult not only– and most obviously– to the (human-rights-respecting) nation of Israel but also to people who are actually oppressed. Palestinians have refused time and time again to work for peace (they work for piece… as in piece of Israel), fire rockets incessantly into peaceful civilians’ homes, and have democratically elected not one but TWO terrorist organizations as their leaders. These are not oppressed people, these are oppressors.

  • Jared Gimbel

    Dr. Barghouti seems like someone who really wants to pick fights, but ultimately seems to be holding his urges back, trying to strain himself. You can’t be confrontational and be taken seriously even if you are non-violent.

    Besides, I also think that America supplied arms to Indonesia in carrying out a genocide in East Timor.

    Scarier even, I believe it was Jimmy Carter who did it in order to maintain a good relationship with the country. (Involvement in Gaza = guilty conscience, much?)

    I like painting. I like activism. I wish that to some degree the Darfour activism gets more press and noted more on campus.

    Many of my favorite journalists and friends support a two-state solution (I’m not well enough informed to make a decision, but if it means “people not getting killed”, I view it favorably. But yet again, so do many things).

    Also, when will people see that a lot of the Israeli Bureaucracy is NOT for the sake of oppression but for the sake of keeping people safe, and not just the Jews in Israel safe. Everyone there.

    I am a Jew, went to Hebrew University for a half a year (Thanks, COL).

    The one incident in which I encountered the full brunt of Israeli security is something I will not talk about in writing. An Arab-American studying in Jerusalem with me at the time told me that he had never been in anything worse than what I endured at that time.

    Evan, and pretty much everyone else reading this in the greater world at large, I suggest reading a wonderful article by Ben-Dror Yemini (Israeli scholar that supports the two-state solution), “And the World is Silent”. Yes, Israel has committed mistakes, but the media and people who make noise have really drowned out greater pictures in the world at large. Hence, find that article and read it all the way through.

    Also, Khaled Abu Toameh >>>>>>>>>>>>> Dr. Barghouti.

Twitter