Of fences and neighbors

Of fences and neighbors

EDITOR:

Werner Lange’s equation of the Berlin Wall with Israel’s anti-terrorism security barrier in a letter Monday completely misses the point, not only of the purpose of the barrier, but also of the Robert Frost poem he cites as inspiration for his inappropriate and incorrect analogy.

The Berlin Wall was constructed to keep East Germans from joining the free world in West Germany. Many Germans were eager to flee the harsh conditions of the communist east for the prosperity and freedom of the democratic west. The security barrier, 97 percent of which is a barbed wire fence and not a wall, was designed to restrict the movements of terrorists who did not wish to enjoy the freedoms of life in a democratic Israel, but rather sought to murder innocent civilians.

The 2003 decision to build the fence was a result of three years of unabated terrorism by Palestinian suicide bombers who simply strolled across fields and neighborhoods to target buses, cafes, shopping centers, and other gathering points for civilians. Throughout this period, the Palestinian leadership did nothing to either prevent these attacks, or to abolish the terrorist infrastructure, despite its commitment to do so in repeated agreements. Israel, like any other sovereign nation facing a direct and violent threat on its soil, had no choice but to take strong action and ensure the security of its citizens.

The fence has been tremendously successful in reducing violence, and the fact that it is a nonviolent, defensive response to acts of terror, speaks volumes to Israel’s respect for the rule of law, even in the face of extreme hardship.

The fence was intended to be a temporary measure and can be moved or removed when the time is right. Indeed, Palestinians who were not citizens of Israel successfully sued the Israeli government in the Israeli Supreme Court claiming that the trajectory of the barrier in some locations posed a hardship to civilians. The government complied with a court order to move the fence. Would Israelis have any similar recourse in terrorist-controlled countries or territories in the region? When Israel finally has a partner not compromised by terror who is willing to forge a real and lasting peace, the need for the fence will be gone.

Frost’s protagonist in his poem, when he realizes that sometimes, “good fences make good neighbors,” comes to the conclusion that although not ideal, fences may be necessary to provide a sense of security. While Frost’s fence physically kept two neighbors apart, it also brought them together each spring to mend it once again.

The fall of the Berlin Wall, a structure that had no place in a free society, was a monumental moment in history. That it fell on the somber anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1939 Nazi–staged vicious pogroms against the German Jewish community that marked the intensification of anti-Jewish policy culminating in the systematic, state-sponsored murder of Jews, is most symbolic, a message that some cannot seem to grasp.

SCOTT LEWIS, president

BONNIE DEUTSCH BURDMAN, director

Jewish Community Relations Council

Youngstown

Medicare works well

EDITOR:

I have been on Medicare for almost 15 years and have never had a problem with it. I have been able to choose my own doctors and have received medical treatment in all kinds of medical facilities in various parts of the country. Medicare has worked very well with my pension plan. I strongly urge support for HR 676.

JAMES RAY

Youngstown