newmatilda.com has an interesting piece on Obama, his visit to Israel and Berlin and reflections on Walls:
"Obama's "anti-wall" speech in Berlin somehow overlooked the one he'd just visited in the Palestinian Occupied Territories
At a much publicised rally in Berlin attended by some 200,000 people, US Presidential nominee Barack Obama spoke of breaking down the walls that divide our global society. Obama spoke first of the Berlin Wall and how it represented the real and symbolic division of much of humanity between the Soviet and Western blocs. He went on to describe the metaphoric walls that still divide societies along racial and religious lines, but reminded the audience that, as with Apartheid South Africa, "history reminds us that walls can be torn down".
There is, though, one wall Barack Obama is unlikely to breach. Given the reference to Apartheid South Africa and walls, it was significant that he chose not to mention the very real wall Israel has built inside the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In 2004, the International Court of Justice determined that the wall was illegal and called for it to be dismantled."
"Obama's "anti-wall" speech in Berlin somehow overlooked the one he'd just visited in the Palestinian Occupied Territories
At a much publicised rally in Berlin attended by some 200,000 people, US Presidential nominee Barack Obama spoke of breaking down the walls that divide our global society. Obama spoke first of the Berlin Wall and how it represented the real and symbolic division of much of humanity between the Soviet and Western blocs. He went on to describe the metaphoric walls that still divide societies along racial and religious lines, but reminded the audience that, as with Apartheid South Africa, "history reminds us that walls can be torn down".
There is, though, one wall Barack Obama is unlikely to breach. Given the reference to Apartheid South Africa and walls, it was significant that he chose not to mention the very real wall Israel has built inside the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In 2004, the International Court of Justice determined that the wall was illegal and called for it to be dismantled."
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