The Institute for Middle East Understanding

Analysis
Sending a message to the world
Linda Haddad, Al Jazeera, May 18, 2008

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A Palestinian girl draws graffiti on the separation wall near Aida refugee camp in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. (Mamoun Wazwaz, Maan Images)
As two Palestinian youth activists spray paint messages on the 'security wall' in the town of Ram, a 75-year-old woman slowly approaches the massive concrete wall, stairs up at it and asks: "Is this peace?"

For Nelly Mousa, the wall is not only an inconvenience to her way of life, but damaging to her family's small fruit and vegetable shop, which sits on what used to be the main road from Jerusalem to Ramallah - now directly opposite the wall.

Since Israel started constructing the wall in 2004 - today it is two-thirds completed - the United Nations International Court of Justice ruled that the construction of the West Bank barrier is illegal and that construction should stop.

Raising awareness

Many activist groups have done a great deal to raise awareness about the injustices they say the wall has created against Palestinians and the Peace and Freedom Youth Forum (PFF) is one group doing just that through a project called 'Send a Message'.

"One of the key things behind this project was to create media attention about the wall, which we hope would teach individuals about the injustices Palestinians are enduring with the building of the wall," says Faris Aruri, the Palestinian chairman of the PFF who lives in the city of Ramallah.

The 'Send a Message' project is simple. People all over the world have emailed a message they would like spray-painted on the wall.

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Aruri and Yousef Nijim, a volunteer coordinator for PFF, take those messages, and spray paint them on the wall. Pictures of peoples' messages, while being spray-painted and once completed, are taken and then emailed to a recipient of your choice, all for the cost of $30.

The money raised from the project is spent on youth programmes to help enrich the lives of young Palestinians.

As Mousa stares with sad eyes at the young activists spray-painting new messages on the wall, she explains that it is now hard for her to visit her girlfriends who live on the other side.

"I used to just cross this road and I'd visit all of my friends. Now it would take an hour to see them. I'm an old lady and I can't do that these days because it just takes too much time," she says.

To read the full article please visit Al Jazeera.

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This page was printed out from the website of the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) found at www.imeu.net. The IMEU provides journalists with quick access to information about Palestine and the Palestinians, as well as expert sources, both in the U.S. and the Middle East.