Germans mark fall of wall, Palestinians lament 'apartheid' wall

Israel's wall remains 20 years after Berlin Wall

في الإثنين ٠٩ - نوفمبر - ٢٠٠٩ ١٢:٠٠ صباحاً

Germans mark fall of wall, Palestinians lament 'apartheid' wall

Israel's wall remains 20 years after Berlin Wall


Local and international peace activists stand on a concrete block of Israel's controversial wall

DUBAI (Al Arabiya)

As Germany marked the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Palestinians lamented the rise of Israel's "apartheid" wall by breaching the concrete barrier on Monday near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Some 100 protestors, waving Palestinian flags, broke through near the Qalandiya military checkpoint and set fire to tires as Israeli forces opened fire, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported.

The protesters were said to be wearing fluorescent jackets that read "We are going to Jerusalem" in a bid to get the worlds attention about the hypocrisy of celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall when Israel still kept its wall around the Palestinian people.

Activists wave the Palestinian flag after breaching the Israeli wall

The images of Palestinians breaching the wall were almost identical of the images of the historic night when East Berliners trapped behind the 3.6 meter (12 feet) high concrete barrier rushed checkpoints to force it open, which have dominated German television and newspaper coverage for the past week.

In Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed the courage of East Germans as leaders converged on the German capital to celebrate the 20th anniversary of an event which marked the end of the Cold War.

"The night of Nov. 9, 1989 was the fulfillment of a dream," Merkel said in a speech in Berlin.

"Many played a role. But it would not have been possible without the courage of the people in the former East Germany."

Perhaps the Palestinian people should take a page out of the German people's book.

اجمالي القراءات 372