by Rifat Odeh Kassis, The Electronic IntifadaIn 2002, it was impossible for Saif not to notice the beginning of the construction the Israeli Occupation Authorities call a security fence and we call the Apartheid Wall. It was being built not 100 meters from our home and the noise of the bulldozers and military vehicles invade our home from early morning to late at night. From his room’s window, he would stand sadly for long periods every day observing the wall grow.
They started with the trees. Olive trees, which were more than 500 years old, were uprooted, rubbed and taken to be replanted in Israeli settlements. He listened to us talking with our neighbors about the concrete wall that was 650 kilometers in length and 8 meters high. He listened to discussions of the armed watchtowers and a "buffer zone" 30-100 meters wide with electric fences, barbed wire, high steel wires, trenches, cameras, sensors, and security roads along both sides of the fence for military patrols. He learned, by listening, that this wall and its buffer zone would annex more than 50% of our land and turn our neighborhoods into enclaves and military zones.
The villagers and farmers there were denied the right to reach their land even though the Israeli military had created "gates" in the Wall. The gates do not provide farmers access to their land but instead strengthen Israel's strangling system of permits and checkpoints where Palestinians are beaten, detained, shot at and humiliated. He realized before his time what a ghetto means and that his small dream for a shiny future would not grow further.
Saif, with his innocent understanding, noticed the change without needing further explanation. To keep him safe, his mother and I stopped allowing him to be on the streets after dark or to go to downtown on his own.
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