Twenty years ago this week the Berlin Wall came down. Then Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev realized the futility of keeping people segregated.

There is another wall that was erected to keep people apart from their neighbors: Israel felt the need to "wall off" the Palestinians. This wall is built to give Israel security, and perhaps it does. However it also creates hatred. The wall is 25 feet tall, topped with razor wire. The wall infringes upon Palestinian land and separates Palestinians from their food and water sources, making daily living extremely difficult.

While Israelis on one side of the wall enjoy watered lawns and swimming pools, Palestinians neighbors on the other side of the wall have access to potable running water only twice a week, at best.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice declared the wall to be illegal, as it is built on confiscated land. I am morally distressed that it is U.S. equipment being used to demolish Palestinian homes, orchards and fields in the path of the wall. We all want to see a secure Israel. I question whether that security can be achieved by wall-building.

Some of my Jewish friends will tell me that I do not "understand." I listen, and I work to understand. I have read extensively regarding this issue. It is important to me to develop dialogue, and it saddens me that I have found this to be so difficult.

Marion Seymour is a peace activist and membership secretary of the Green Party
of New Mexico who lives in Santa Fe.