Remember the wall

By Naguib Mahfouz

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When Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon began constructing the wall separating Israel and Palestinian land, he said it was a security precaution that did not change the political situation in any way; vowed that the wall could be removed at any time. This was in response to worldwide criticism and the concern that it would alter the geographic and political situation in the occupied territories.

I am quite alarmed by the news that the Israeli government is altering school maps to present the wall as the new borders of the state, although it stands on Palestinian land. As our attention has turned to the withdrawal from Gaza and the differences between Sharon and his party over this matter, we seem to have forgotten about the wall.

This has happened before. Israel invariably creates a new problem to make us forget a previous one, and we always fall for it. In the meanwhile, one transgression after another becomes the status quo. The issue of the wall should remain alive. We have to continue rejecting the wall and reminding the world of its injustice. To accept the wall is to squander peace. The wall undermines all chances for peace for it destroys the last hope of the Palestinians for a fair settlement.

Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.