Artistic Hope

Today's readings brought back many of my memories from when I was in the West Bank and viewed the separation wall for the first time. I remember thinking how out of place it looked curling up and down the mountains around Jerusalem. It was strange seeing a concrete barrier winding its way around hordes of historical holy sights in the city. It was even more strange seeing all of the graffiti on it from the Palestinian side, often graffiti that was beautiful and horrific at the same time.

The reading from OSU spent a lot of time talking about how national identity very much putting the us vs. them mentality into action. The separation barrier is a great example of that. While Israel says it is for security reasons, the very core of this issue is the us vs. them mentality. Without that, there would be no need for the separation barrier because there wouldn't be any difference between the Israelis and Palestinians. To me, the issue of the separation barrier tells how the Israelis view themselves differently than the Palestinians and they then need to build the separation barrier to define that.

The artistic response of the graffiti artists is amazing to me. When I was first in Israel, I viewed the graffiti as simply a form of rebellion through vandalism. While that may be there, I never had reflected on graffiti as a form of political expression. I admire the peaceful approach to the conflict of the separation barrier over any of the violent alternatives. I wish I had this understanding when I visited Israel the first time.

More than just the geopolitical issues surrounding it, the issue surrounding it to me was/is how it has ruined a pristine and beautiful piece of global history. While it has some severe human right issues related to it, to me the issue is how it has ruined the splendor of Jerusalem and Israel as a whole. At the same time, the separation barrier has provided a new form of history. It has become and avenue of expression that would not be there otherwise. While in some senses the wall is a form of aggression, at the same time it has become one of the most beautiful means of communication and that is of the arts. That combined with projects such as the Western-Eastern Divan Orchestra provide solutions and means for dialogue that I believe will hold the key to solving the issues surrounding Jerusalem.