Where’s the Coverage? Separation Barriers in…Cairo
Checkpoints! 10-foot concrete walls! Arabs who can’t get to their businesses! Must be Israel, right? Wrong.
It’s Egypt, as reported by NPR:
After five days of skirmishes in early February, Cairo’s police chiefs ordered the construction of a series of 10-foot walls, seven of them in all, to block off access to the [interior] ministry.
Other walls have sprung up throughout the area, too, following other bouts of violence. Vibrant neighborhoods have been transformed into a maze of checkpoints and concrete blocks. Now residents are trying to get adjusted to the new, imposing barriers that have virtually paralyzed a large section of downtown Cairo.
And yet, with all the attention being paid to the vaunted freedoms of the “Arab Spring” and the outrage the world felt at Israel on “Land Day,” have you heard anything about the “Apartheid Walls” of Cairo?
Naturally, NPR puts a positive spin on Cairo’s walls as preferable to the alternative:
Mohammed Kadry Said, a retired major general and a senior analyst at the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, says that the walls provide a limited solution.
“Either you go out and shoot the crowd who are attacking the building of the Ministry of Interior and can put a fire on it, or you can make a shield, so at least you are safe.”
When Egypt erects a barrier to keep government officials safe from citizens, it’s fine. But when Israel erects a barrier to keep citizens safe from terrorists, it’s an atrocity. Talk about a double standard. Furthermore, there are separation barriers all over the world yet only Israel’s security barrier is criticized. Where’s the fairness? Where’s the context? Where’s the coverage?
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