The more I learn about Israel, the more I realize how little I know about Israel. Reading both Menachem Klein's article Old and new walls in Jerusalem and Julie Peteet's article The Writing on the Walls: Graffiti of the Intifada provided me with insight on why walls are constructed and how life occurs within them. Klein describes these barriers as, "designed to reestablish the Israeli domination over the Eastern Palestinian city"(56). These constructed boundaries separating Israel and the occupied territories work to reinforce the "us" verses "them" dichotomy. These walls serve to construct identity in opposition to the "other." Klein explains that boundaries function as an "identity narrative"(57). Borders work to exclude the "other" and are a manifestation of power relations. In Israel, physical walls are not the only forms of separation; "Thick ethnic-national, political, community, religious, historical, and cultural walls separate the Jewish from the Arab side of the city"(60). Whether invisible or visible, Israelis and Palestinians encounter multiple walls of separation. These boundaries work to subjugate Palestinians and enforce Israeli supremacy. In order to assert dominance and control, Israel used the historical weapon of construction; "The high rate of Jewish construction was made possible by placing Israeli walls around Arab residential neighborhoods by confiscating land, prohibiting construction on land designated 'green,' withholding building permits, deliberately failing to promulgate a master zoning plan, and placing bureaucratic obstacles in the way of Palestinians wishing to build"(63). As a result of Israel's growing domination, Palestinians suffer. Border police and security checkpoints militarize daily life(67). Palestinians struggle with widespread poverty. Through censorship and control, Israel works to undermine Palestinian political organization. On these walls of separation, Palestinians have found a subversive medium for self expression. Peteet explains how graffiti functions as an agent of power and expresses community resistance, debate, self-reflection, an assertion of collective identity, and civil disobedience. Graffiti gives voice to the voiceless; "'a response of people denied a response'"(146). Instead of solely protesting occupation, graffiti works as a "community bulletin board"(152). Various political factions engage in debate. Peteet explains how graffiti is both a reminder of life under occupation and a form of mass resistance; "The sheer ubiquitousness of graffiti was a constant reminder both of the abnormality of everyday life under occupation and of the mass uprising. They worked with daily general strike to imprint on the landscape abnormality and resistance"(143). Even though it is quickly painted over with black paint, graffiti is a valuable form of self expression and political protest. When the notorious graffiti artist and self proclaimed 'art terrorist," Banksy came to write on the walls of the West Bank, he described how graffiti functions as a way to, "turn the world's most invasive structure into the world's longest gallery of free speech and bad art." He stated that the wall, "turns Palestine into an open prison." Reading these articles, I also viewed Israel's actions as creating a prison around Palestinians. In order to secure their own safety, Israelis have imprisoned Palestinians. In our video conference with the Palestinian students from PAYLARA, I want to ask how the occupation affects their daily life. Do they feel like they are living in a prison? What are their hopes for the future?