June 18th, '03
Weighing In On the Wall

"Between 500 and 600 of the 800 Israeli dead could be still among us if they had begun to build the separation wall as a national project in a time of emergency."

- Former prime minister Ehud Barak, speaking at a Tel Aviv University seminar.

Now this, from the Jerusalem Post's Matt Guttman:

"Using pneumatic wire cutters Tuesday night, terrorists sliced through 2cm-thick steel bars separating Qalqilya's sewage system and Israel's, dashed the 50 meters to Highway 6, and fired on a passing care, killing 7-year-old Noam Leibowitz. They then returned through the tangle of steel in the sewage canal, which lies under an 8m-high security wall and into the relative safety of Qalqilya, unharmed and unheard."

This is just another example of what makes me feel like there's nowhere to go, and no one to depend on. Part of me would like to shout about the murder of Noam Leibowitz, and turn that sweet little girl into the Israeli equivalent of Muhammad al Dura - the Palestinian child who made television history by dying in the crossfire between Israelis and Palestinians early in the Intifada.

Muhammad al Dura has become one of the most recognizable faces in Arab popular culture. His face is plastered on posters and T-shirts, and the Palestinian Authority has produced a music video in which a Muhammad al Dura lookalike encourages children to follow in his footsteps to shahida - martyrdom.

The face of Noam Leibowitz will probably not be remembered. For a world that doesn't really care about terrorism when the victims are Jews, and for an Israel punch-drunk after almost three years of violence, Noam Leibowitz is just another statistic.

UPDATE: This morning's editorial in the Jerusalem Post echoes my sentiments.

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