Tear Down Which Wall? Posted by Michael Fuchs

When the Berlin Wall was torn down in 1989, it wasn't merely a sign that a conflict had ended and the wall was no longer necessary, but rather it heralded the end of a conflict. Today, the idea of walls between nations seems to be in vogue. Does this mean that conflicts are increasing, or that solutions to them seem increasingly hopeless?

There are walls being erected in Baghdad to separate Sunnis from Shias. A barrier is going up between Israel and the West Bank. The United States wants a wall separating it from Mexico. But there are others. Pakistan is building a wall on its border with Afghanistan. India is constructing a wall along its border with Bangladesh. As a recent TIME article points out, this trend appears to be accelerating:

Nor is this kind of activity confined to the subcontinent. All around the world, countries are busy throwing up walls. Iran is building a bulwark along its border with Pakistan to stop illegal crossings. Botswana erected a 480-km electric fence along its boundary with Zimbabwe. Saudi Arabia is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on massive ramparts to separate itself from Yemen to the south and Iraq to the north. Thailand wants a concrete barrier along part of its border with Malaysia.

Perhaps these are last ditch efforts of failed policies to stop violence across borders. The Pakistan-Afghanistan border seems to be a particularly lawless place, though building a wall might worsen relations since Afghanistan disputes the contours of the border itself, the Durand Line. This is clearly a problem in other places with walls, such as Israel and the West Bank.

But will mere walls prevent conflict? As the TIME article mentioned above points out, walls can have short term impacts on reducing violence. But it seems that they are hardly long-term solutions and more likely the result of failed policies. The Great Wall of China was built to keep the Mongols out. Much good it did them. The Mongols overran China. Now the Great Wall is a tourist attraction. Hopefully one day the rest of these walls will be mere tourist attractions as well. But in the meantime, many of these walls increasingly appear to be relatively futile moves of desperation.      

Comments

[Allan]

This posting is sophomoric. Of course, if we had a world where there was no violence and all disputes were settled by binding arbitration, we would not need walls or fences.

But we do not have such a world. A wall is neither inherently good or inherently bad. It depends on the purpose and consequences. The wall the Israelis have built has been very effective in reducing terrorist suicide attacks. There are legitimate arguments about its exact location, but the wall itself is needed and has had a very beneficial effect.

[Sharon]

Sophomoric is too harsh. In fact, the observation that a wall is neither good nor bad is a little sophomoric! And it really is an interesting phenomenon, the sudden proliferation of walls to solve difficult border & ethnic problems. But consider the most immediate historic precedent: maybe the Great Wall wasn't too effective, but the Berlin Wall arguably worked. It more or less kept the US and Soviet Union from going to battle over Germany; the wall came down when there was no longer a need for it. Maybe walls are a sign of failed policies, but if they buy time and space for policy success, they're not necessarily an "inherently bad" thing.

[Nik Mohammad Ahmadzia]

Its very true Afghans from both Side of the Border Afghanistan and NWFP/Balochistan (AFGANA) don't accept any borders, and it wasn't Pakistani land until 2004 when Pakistan deployed 120,000 troops in an Excuse that America would also invade Afgana. Althought local tribal leader get money every year from Pakistan for allowing Pakistan to use its natural resources. But over all the people of Afgana never accepted any border.

According to CIA Fact The Afghans of Afghan or the Pashtu speakers called Pashtun which came from the word Pashtuwan makes up 8% of Pakistan but some say its around 5% and yet Pakistani Government calims there are more Afghans in Pakistan then there are in Afghanistan putting the number as high as 25%. Sounds like Pakistan taking over not just the minds of westerners but also the hearts of Afghans.

The question comes to Karzai would they listen to US and Pakistan and sign off the durand line which is not going to distory the KARZAI GOVERNMENT but also the State of Afghanistan which carries 70-80% Afghan Race whom all are nationalists and want unity with they blood brothers in Afgana (Pashtunistan)

Anyways thanks guys.

[Shadi Fadda]

There is no such thing as a Wall BETWEEN West Bank and Israel. Israel has built the WALL INSIDE THE WEST BANK rather than between the two.

[Lane Brody]

Good fences make good neighbors. Not all walls are equal. The Berlin Wall was created to keep the people of East Germany in. It was to prevent the slaves getting to freedom. It's not analogous to the Great Wall or your other walls. Most of these are meant to keep someone else out.

The notion that because the Berlin Wall is seen as bad and the Great Wall as a failure that walls per se can never have a positive contribution is a tad silly. The era of the nation state is still with us. Nations have borders and a duty to protect their citizens.

One might observe that the wall and/or barrier Israel put up certainly annoys a great many people- especially if seen as de-facto border. Considering the civil war getting worse day after day between Hamas and Fatah and the fact the wall has been extremely effective in curtailing terrorism one is hard pressed to imagine anyone to talk about having an mutually agreed border. Were I a citizen of Israel I would demand such a barrier and were I living in Gaza I would either call it the Berlin Wall, fire rockets into Israel, or realize the silly mickey mouse rip off children's tv character that talks about driving Israel into the sea is the symptom of all that is wrong. But what point in even considering living with Israel when one can't live with one's own selves? Get it together or expect a bigger wall.

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