“Sharon’s Wall” Reveals Zionist Ghetto Roots

In a forum organized by the Arab World Institute in Paris to promote his book “ Sharon ’s Wall”, Alain Menargues said the basic idea of his book is to reveal the historical, religious and political facts behind the exclusionist concept built in the Zionist thinking and represented by the idea of Ghetto.

Menargues resigned his post October, 18 over remarks in which he described Israel as a “racist state”.

“You say Israel is a democratic state, let me rapidly add that it is also a racist state….The law of return only concerns Jews. What is the basis of Zionism? It is to make a state for the Jews.”

“What was the first ghetto on the world? It was in Venice . Who made it? The Jews themselves, in order to separate themselves from the rest. Afterwards Europe put them in ghettoes.”

Separation Idea

Menargues said his book is a bid to explain the Zionist meaning of the wall.

“The book is a bid to probe the Zionist meaning of the wall. It is hard to understand the concept of wall without returning to the Jewish religious meanings.”

“The Torah theory of separation is highly significant in helping to understand what is happening. The fourth book of the Torah stipulates separation from the other as a means of gaining purity and cleanness.”

Menargues added the political meaning of separation could be found in the history of the Zionist movement which calls for establishing an entire “Jewish state”.

The French writer elaborated that the first call for establishing a separation wall came when a Russian Zionist journalist called in 1929 to separate the Jewish settlements in Palestine from the “barbarian” population. He was referring to the Palestinians.

Menargues stressed the concept of separation as a means to purity and cleanness is rife in the Israeli society.

“Jewish religious communities are now divided even among themselves. The followers of one Jewish rabbi are no longer able to marry from followers of another.”

The idea of ghettoes and walls to seek purity and cleanness has become rampant in the Israeli society, according to the French writer.

False Allegations

Downplaying Israeli security claims, Menargues mocked the idea of building a separation wall to protect Israelis from Palestinian attacks.

“History proves that all previous walls had not provided protection because the human brain always finds a way around such walls.”

The separation wall has been deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice and in July, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on Israel to tear it down. As usual, Israel , backed by Washington , defiantly refused to abide by the ruling or the resolution.

Menargues said Sharon ’s separation wall, contrary to other separation walls, is being built on Palestinian lands to bar Palestinian children from going to school and farmers from cultivating their lands.

Division

Menargues further added the wall would cause more division and hatred between Palestinians and Israelis.

“The wall is a humanitarian crisis representing a mutual grudge. The Palestinians are hateful of the Israelis over the destruction they had to suffer, while Israelis develop a greater fear of the other.”

He dubbed as “racial cleansing” the Israeli plans to evacuate the Palestinian citizens of Israel to areas behind the separation wall.

The outspoken French writer highlighted the fact that Israel’s resorting to building such a separation wall reflects the failure of the occupation army to put an end to resistance, represented in the Intifada now into its fifth year.

“The time in which the Israeli army was the only powerful force in the Middle East is now gone.”

“Now, we can see Israeli occupation soldiers carrying their comrades killed by the Palestinians.”

Last March, an Israeli reservist said that a growing number of reservists are skeptic about the “moral principles” of the army.

Erlik Alhanan said 80 percent of reservists have lost confidence in the declared moral principles of the Israeli army due to the practices in Lebanon and the crackdown on the Palestinians.

Twenty-seven reserve and active duty airmen signed a letter last September addressed to Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon, refusing to carry out “immoral and illegal” raids on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Also last November, four former heads of the Israeli Shin Beth interior security services warned of the “disastrous” consequences of Israel ‘s continued occupation of the Palestinian territories.