Notice the photo above. The gate is not your typical gate. It is clearly a massive and unmissable barrier. Steal doors, high concrete, barbarized wire at the top, and graffiti all around. The Berlin Wall was more subtle. There is no way, no matter the preoccupations of one’s mind, that one could pass through such an ugly and land-scaring edifice without taking notice.

But, apparently, Italy’s comical and buffoonish prime minister Silvio Berlusconi failed to. After spending several days in Israel, Berlusconi headed to occupied Bethlehem for a token visit to meet with the Palestinian Authority ‘president’ Mahmoud Abbas. The trip entailed Berlusconi to stop at this very gate and switch cars as he crossed the unofficial border between Israeli-occupied Palestine 1948 and Israeli-occupied Palestine 1967. Never mind failing to take note while driving through, but Berlusconi actually walked around the wall and he claims no recollection still:

“I’m going to let you down because I didn’t notice,” Berlusconi told an Italian journalist who asked him about his impressions of the concrete barrier at a joint news conference with his host, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Protocol obliged Berlusconi to get out in the cold and rain to switch from an Israeli car to a Palestinian one at the Israeli checkpoint in the wall, where a steel gate controls access to and from the West Bank, Palestinian sources confirmed.

However, the Italian leader said he had not paid attention.

“I was getting my thoughts in order on what I would I would say to the president,” he said. “I apologize for that.”

The wall at Bethlehem is part of a long barrier constructed mainly of security fencing, which Israel says is necessary to prevent armed Palestinian militants and suicide bombers from reaching its cities from the West Bank.

High-profile visitors to Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, where Christians believe Jesus was born, are often invited to inspect the graffiti-covered wall.

Pope Benedict, who visited in May, said it was “a stark reminder of the stalemate” in relations between Israel and the Palestinians.

The ancient city of Bethlehem - where Jesus was born - has been enclosed 3/4 around by Israel’s Annex Wall. Here’s what Bethlehem looks like:


Israel claims the barrier is needed for security and that it has stopped suicide bombings. Fair enough, but the wall would be as effective if built along the 1967 line or at least along the current borders of the major illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Instead, the Wall is built inside the West Bank - dividing Palestinian towns on either side and denying farmers access to their land. The Wall annexes 8% of the West Bank - land Palestinians aspire to build their future state on in a two-state solution. Israel’s security rational is, as always, a smoke-screen to further steal more Palestinian land and expand ‘Greater Israel’ while seeking to deny Palestinians their own home all the while Israel voices empty words about ‘peace’.

As for Berlusconi’s indifferent remarks, of course he noticed and just pretends not to care. This is not surprising since the man has a record of prejudice against Muslims and is racist against all Arabs - Muslim and Christian - and while in Israel he showered the far-right government with praise and told the Netanyahu government that it can count on Berlusconi to defend Israel. The love fest between Il Cavalieri and Bibi:

Directing his statements to Berlusconi, the prime minister [Benyamin Netanyahu] said: “I must say, Silvio my dear friend, you have clear vision, you have determination, and you have the courage of a real leader.”

“I can only hope that the rest of the leaders of the free world find these traits in time and line up shoulder to shoulder to stop this danger,” Netanyahu said.

“We are lucky that there are leaders like you,” the premier said of Berlusconi. “I don’t think there’s a better friend [of Israel] in the international community.”

Berlusconi replied that he naturally supported “your people, your country and your history. My policies have always been in line with the policies of the Prime Minister of Israel.”

Berlusconi also promised almost automatic Italian support for Israel in the international community.

“I will continue to act as I have acted until now from a belief in the righteousness of your path and from the belief that it is impossible to take my eyes away from the proven dangers that you see,” he said.

“I brought my government with me here for the first of many meetings,” Berlusconi added. “Israel has become one of the five closest countries to Italy. You can turn to us in any request for support in the international community. I want to promise you that this is not just my position. This is also the position of the entire Italian government and people.”

Thus given such sentiment it is neither surprising nor amusing that Berlusconi would behave as he did. And Israel must be so happy to have a friend like Berlusconi - their best friend ever! If you were unpopular, what better person to have on your side and as a reflection of the company you keep than a prime minister known for his idiotic statements, facing two corruption trials, has invited prostitutes to his villa, is autocratic, has been photographed naked, and whose ex-wife accuses him of sleeping with an 18 year old model? Berlusconi’s charm and eloquence matched with Italy’s economic and military dominance in the world will no doubt do wonders for Israel’s image and its strategic standing.

If a whore was hanging from the wall, I’am sure he’d would stood staring for hours. And it is good that the Wall is a few years old, if it were of age Berlusconi may have had sex with. For the record, Israel’s Annex/Apartheid Wall is fucked anyway!