Reflections on the Mirage

Walls Always Fall

Throughout history, the utter ineffectiveness and futility of walls and barriers on a large scale has been proven time and time again.

Consider, for example, the once notorious Berlin Wall, which now resides primarily in small souvenir chunks on people’s desks around the world.  Going back farther in history, the Great Wall of China ultimately failed to prevent the Manchus from breaching its gates and driving out the Shun Dynasty.  Delving deeper, in Roman times the multitude of frontier walls, such as Hadrian’s Wall and the Limes Germanicus, completely failed to prevent the barbarian invasions and eventual collapse of the Empire.  Certainly, the United States will likely learn this inevitability as well should the Mexican border fence ever be completed.  No wall will stop a significantly determined group of people.

Yet, despite this historical record of failed barriers, Israel persists in their attempts to seal off the Palestinian Territories from the world.  Doubtless, they have attained fresh new heights of human rights violations by their current blockade of the Gaza Strip.  Not surprisingly, there has been no fierce condemnation of this Israeli siege by officials of the United States—just as the US similarly failed to sign the United Nations resolution, supported and signed by 150 nations, demanding that the construction of the West Bank barrier be halted in 2004.  The US was one of only six nations that opposed the resolution.

For many months now, since Hamas assumed control in mid-June 2007, Gaza has been isolated and barricaded from the outside world.  Lack of power, dwindling supplies, and economic failures have set the stage for what could potentially become a horrendous humanitarian disaster and have left an entire populace imprisoned.  Perhaps the rank irony of Israel’s actions in this regard has been lost on the world.

Nevertheless, it is little wonder that, in the face of starvation and cut off from power, medicine, and basic supplies, the people of Gaza chose to demolish several miles of the border wall at Rafah and cross into Egypt to procure food and other necessary provisions.  Amazingly, despite a scattering of initial confrontations with Egyptian border and riot police, there were very few reports of violence in what seems to be a rather orderly and peaceful flow of people through the demolished barrier.  All in all, the footage from the crossing looked far more organized and law abiding than many of the supply lines in the wake of hurricanes in Florida.  This was no fanatical orgy of looting or violence, this was a surge of desperate people respectfully buying supplies and returning home.

In light of this, it could transpire that by cutting Gaza off from the world Israel has achieved the exact opposite of its original intentions.  This blockade against Gaza may have been taken up to undermine the power of Hamas, but the end result might potentially strengthen the political group’s power instead.  When the wall came down at Rafah, many interviewed Palestinians crossing at the border expressed gratitude and admiration to Hamas for making it possible for them to attain the supplies denied to them for so long, even from people who had previously no support for the group.

No population behind a blockade grows to love their captors as a result.  Rather, they begin to rally behind those who they believe will take steps to end their captivity.  The longer this blockade goes on in Gaza, the greater the potential for violence will likely become.  As history has established time after time, all walls eventually fail to keep humanity contained.  How that confined humanity will burst forth in this situation is yet to be determined.

Illusions of Peace

Peace in the Middle East by the end of the year?  A Palestinian state?  An end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts?  These are the promises President Bush has assured us of prior to his recent jaunt to the Middle East this month.

Needless to say, the reality of the situation appears somewhat different.

Truly, it seems a bit hard to talk about peace while still chewing on the fetid mouthful of a $20 billion deal to funnel arms into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  We’ll overlook the glaring and undisputed fact that fifteen of the terrorists involved in the September 11th attacks were Saudis, but instead consider the basic fact that pushing more weapons into an unstable region is entirely counterproductive to anything even remotely related to peace.

Matter of fact, the one thing that Bush’s trip to the Middle East did appear to focus on was a nagging attempt to stir up hostilities between the Arab states and Iran.  It rather seemed that Bush was intent on planting the seeds of discord.

Perhaps he should have done his homework first.  Despite the differences inherent between the nations stemming from the Sunni-Shiite divide and the past tensions from the Iran-Iraq War, Iran has developed and maintains close economic ties with several of their neighboring Arab states.  Even nations which have, in the past, had decidedly unfriendly relations with Iran, like Kuwait for example, have begun to build renewed dealings with the Islamic Republic.

It seems a trifle unlikely that the Arab states will choose to ally themselves with the West against Iran, even in spite of their cultural and ideological differences and Bush’s determined instigation.  Considering also that OPEC seems poised to drop the US dollar in the foreseeable future, with only the Saudis in support of keeping the current status quo, it may not be too long before the economic justifications of Arab alliances with the United States may eventually begin to fade.

It seems considerably more likely that providing the region with even more weaponry will contribute to just one thing: continued conflict.

It’s merely an illusion of peace that Bush has been trotting out, a feeble grasp towards leaving a more positive legacy in the wake of a rather disappointing presidency.  It’s doubtful that he’s fooling anybody but himself.

Another Light Goes Out

In a blast of fire, chaos, and despair, another bright light was extinguished on December 27, 2007 in Pakistan.  Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani prime minister, was assassinated in an apparent suicide attack in Liaquat National Park following a campaign rally in Rawalpindi—becoming yet another member of her politically involved family to be murdered in the name of their politics.  With her untimely passing, the future of Pakistan seems uncertain and undeniably grim.

Despite the criticism and accusations of corruption which plagued her two terms in office, Bhutto was an admirable and extraordinary woman.  Even the very fact that she was a woman makes her rise to political prominence in an Islamic nation all the more amazing.  Educated and charismatic, she spoke with an eloquent tenacity which revealed a deep commitment to her people.  In an interview she gave from Dubai, following the October attack upon her motorcade within only hours of arriving back on Pakistani soil, she spoke with clear intent to drive out the extremists and restore stability to her country.  Her voice was strong and she showed no fear for her life, only a resolute determination to remove the threat to the people.

To many, she was the shining hope for Pakistan.  To others, however, she was viewed with suspicion, doubt, and sometimes outright disdain.  Unfortunately, she fell into the crosshairs of extremists and militants upon her return.

Some may say she was foolhardy and naïve to return when she knew her life would be under constant threat and the specter of death would hang close over her shoulder.  It is the opinion of this writer, however, that what she did was a bold and courageous action.  In all likelihood, she knew returning was tantamount to suicide and that her days would surely be numbered.  There were likely no doubts that she would meet her end in this way.  Despite these risks, she returned and stood fearlessly with her people and raised her fist to voice their plight.  Such courage should be admired and given proper respect.   Pakistan needed her voice and the world needs fearless women like her.   One can only hope that the world will remember her and place her among the ranks of other great female leaders who have come before her.

Now, in the wake of her death, it seems that chaos has arisen on the streets of Pakistan.  Her swift and hectic funeral seems to indicate a sense of hurried urgency.  News of riots and violent protests run across the wires.  Fingers of blame point in all directions—towards Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, towards Taliban remnants, to Al-Qaida and its supporters, and even to the United States.  Rumor runs rampant, with the exact count of dead and wounded not yet established and varying reports on her exact cause of death finding their way into news reports around the globe.  On the eve of such tragedy, one can only hope that a thorough investigation is launched into the matter to find and bring to justice the perpetrators who not only murdered an important political figure but also many innocent bystanders.  However, with the stability of Pakistan already in question, the prospect of promised elections wavering, the support from Musharraf unreliable, and the potential for utter breakdown and chaos impending, it does not seem likely that the organizers of this atrocity will be brought to justice any time soon.

Instead, the potential for a loss of solidarity looms near for the entire region.  In an area already unbalanced by the influx of defeated Afghan Taliban mujahedeen and political strife from within a government which is lead by a man with all the markings of a military despot, it would seem that only a little more is needed to tip the scale and cause the nation to descend into total disarray.  When that nation is also a known nuclear power, it lends itself to an even more potentially dangerous situation.

Pakistan is now riding a very thin edge, but only time will tell which way the scale falls.  Whatever events may transpire in the aftermath of all the turmoil of Pakistan, the effects will certainly be broad reaching and will ripple through the global community as a whole.