Side I vs Side P, Fight!
They didn't allow each other real names, because they each refused to formally recognize the other's existence. Side I was the ultimate unassimilable ethnic group. Side P, which should have been doing at least as well as, say, the Lebanese or the Cypriots, preferred hating Side I to building a functional economy, civil society, or government.
...
The Wall is a practical solution of sorts - better than war and a lot more psychologically realistic than outsiders' blather about peace. After all, Greek and Turkish Cypriots, who once slaughtered each other's children with gusto, erected a wall in 1974, and it has mellowed them considerably. The DMZ between North and South Korea is now a wildlife refuge. The Great Wall of China is a tourist attraction. So what could be wrong with the Great Wall of the Holy Land, besides the fact that it fails to adhere to UN-recognized borders, traps innocent Side Ps in Side I territory, screws up the water table, and wastes useful farming acreage?
An interesting op-ed peice by Bruce Sterling in Wired about the wall that is being built between Israel and the Palestinian territories.
They didn't allow each other real names, because they each refused to formally recognize the other's existence. Side I was the ultimate unassimilable ethnic group. Side P, which should have been doing at least as well as, say, the Lebanese or the Cypriots, preferred hating Side I to building a functional economy, civil society, or government.
...
The Wall is a practical solution of sorts - better than war and a lot more psychologically realistic than outsiders' blather about peace. After all, Greek and Turkish Cypriots, who once slaughtered each other's children with gusto, erected a wall in 1974, and it has mellowed them considerably. The DMZ between North and South Korea is now a wildlife refuge. The Great Wall of China is a tourist attraction. So what could be wrong with the Great Wall of the Holy Land, besides the fact that it fails to adhere to UN-recognized borders, traps innocent Side Ps in Side I territory, screws up the water table, and wastes useful farming acreage?
An interesting op-ed peice by Bruce Sterling in Wired about the wall that is being built between Israel and the Palestinian territories.
