Roger Waters: Tear down the wall (Israeli security fence)!

By Michael J.W. Stickings

From the AP, Roger Waters, formerly of Pink Floyd and one of my musical heroes (those who know me know that I love Pink Floyd), visited a Palestinian refugee camp today and called for the wall that Israel erected in the West Bank to be torn down.

I consider myself a friend of Israel, and I continue to believe that Israel must be allowed to defend itself against enemies who wish, and are working towards, its annihilation.

And I support a two-state solution, with an independent, sovereign Palestinian state co-existing alongside Israel.

But the wall is a symbol of division, and of war -- and there will not be any lasting piece as long as this "barrier," which is built on confiscated Palestinian land and which constitutes what the U.N. has called "an unlawful act of annexation," separates those who ought to be making peace.

Waters is right that it is an "awful thing" that ought to be "destroyed soon."