The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a hot topic in one of my lectures. As an exercise, we discussed an agenda for conflict resolution on a micro, ground level. Approaching the mindsets of children who learn prejudices, politicians, corporates, housing estates and ordinary people in Israel who believe that the occupied territory is their birthright. While we were busy debating, a friend of mine from (formerly East) Germany made an interesting observation. After the wall that divided East and West Germany was torn down, she said, there was still, in her mind, a distrust of West Germans. She referred to it as the mental wall.
As a young child, she associated the West with capitalism. A word, she said, provoked mistrust among the people on her side of the wall, the communist state of East Germany. The mistrust continued even after the wall was broken in 1989 and Germany was united. Another friend from (formerly West) Germany talked about his memories as a ten-year old, watching the demolition of the wall. His main recollection of East Germans is that they couldn't afford bananas. Basic necessities like housing, food and basic clothing were inexpensive, but imports were considered luxuries.
In studying the conflict in the middle East, I realized that the physical boundaries can be moved and broken down in a short period of time. It's much harder to break the mental walls that harbour prejudices and hatred.
