Walls, walls, walls: the spirit of the day

GEOFF SIFRIN

When Trump arrives in Israel next Monday after visiting Saudi Arabia and before going to the Vatican – his trip encompasses key centres of Islam, Judaism and Christianity – he enters a minefield that has stymied the dreams of previous US presidents to go down historically as having ended the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump touts himself as the ultimate deal-maker. Does he have a policy or is he winging it? Does he favour a two-state solution, or will he give West Bank settlers the carte blanche he implied during his campaign which led far-right Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett – who opposes a Palestinian state – to proclaim: “The Palestinian flag has been lowered from the flagpole” and Culture Minister Miri Regev to declare jubilantly: “Obama is history, now we have Trump!”

They may be disappointed. Last week a senior member of the US delegation making preparations for Trump’s visit, outraged Israelis by saying Jerusalem’s Western Wall – the Kotel – is “not your territory, it’s part of the West Bank”.

Although the White House said it was unauthorised, tempers ran high. Trump after all believes in walls: he wants to build them around America to keep Mexicans and other “undesirables” – such as Muslims – out.

His arrival coincides with the 50-year anniversary of Israel’s Six Day War victory over invading Arab armies and the dismantling of the wall which split Jerusalem for 19 years.

The war’s consequences have divided Jews worldwide. Many on the right believe the victory was G-d-inspired; others on the left, while celebrating Israel’s survival, see it as the beginning of the bitter Palestinian occupation, which has even resulted in Israel building a long wall separating it from the West Bank to prevent terrorism.

Israel won the war but has yet to win the peace, in contrast to the Berlin Wall’s falling in 1989 which reunited Germany.

Trump seems an unlikely person to bring resolution. But with such a maverick, no-one knows what may emerge.

At home, South Africans are trying to build a different kind of wall – a legal one – to hold off Zuma’s bizarre behaviour and prevent the country’s decline into another African kleptocracy like Zimbabwe.

Clearly the president has gone rogue and no longer cares what citizens or ANC members think of him. Meanwhile, a South African equivalent of the Arab Spring threatens to erupt as extreme poverty and inequality become too much for the masses to bear while political leaders luxuriate in expensive mansions at state expense.

There are spots of hope. Such as Monday’s fascinating Constitutional Court debate over whether the coming no-confidence motion against Zuma in parliament should be conducted by secret ballot, as opposition parties want.

This would allow ANC members who oppose Zuma, to vote freely without fear of recrimination. The Concourt remains a fiercely independent bastion of democracy – a legal wall against Zuma’s abuse of his position. Will it hold?

Both Trump and Zuma see their countries’ constitutions as an inconvenience rather than a jewel. Both recently fired literally overnight very senior public figures for what seems like selfish reasons – Trump fired FBI head James Comey, apparently for pursuing an investigation of Trump’s links to the Russians; Zuma fired respected South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan who was holding the fort against the economy’s collapse, but was blocking Zuma’s personal ambitions. Opposition to both men is rising and may eventually bring both of them down.

Building and dismantling walls is part of the game. The implications are huge. 

Read Geoff Sifrin’s regular columns on his blog sifrintakingissue.wordpress.com