Blog post
My alarm rings at 5 AM. I wake up, have breakfast, and get ready to leave the house. The taxi arrives at 6 AM to pick me up and take me to Birzeit University in Ramallah, where I am studying for my bachelor’s degree in Journalism.
The original trip from my town to the university is supposed to take a maximum of 30 minutes. After the Israeli closure of the main roads to Palestinians, it now takes one and a half hours driving to get there; if there is no traffic.
The route that we Palestinians must take in order to travel from Bethlehem to Ramallah circles almost all the way around Jerusalem, and around the separation wall that the Israeli government started building in 2002.
Each time I see the wall I am filled with feelings of anger and strange emotions that I can’t describe! Seeing the beautiful nature being imprisoned by high concrete barriers, houses and communities being separated, flowers being choked by the barbwire fence marking what will soon be replaced by three meter high concrete slabs, and those lands that their owners can no longer reach to plant, care for, and harvest.They are on "the other side" now, where we are no longer allowed to go.
I have these feelings every single time I pass by this ugly wall. Even though I have seen it every day for the last 13 years, I just can’t get to use to it!
I am not a person who just sees the wall; I am someone who knows the real story behind building it! I know that the separation wall doesn’t only divide people and lands, but it was also built to take over water sources, other natural resources and sites, and to confiscate more lands for the Israeli side.
I am about to disappoint you, but I don’t believe that praying will take down walls! I believe that educating people about the good and the bad will. I believe that trying to wake up the mind of the new generation to practicing equality and justice in their daily lives will.
I believe that raising children to believe in non-discrimination and to see humanity, that we are all human beings, will take down walls.
