Eyal Ofer's photos speak of the suffering caused by the wall to those who are imprisoned behind it – leaving their lives in tatters.

"Speak" – and not shout. "Speak" and not scream. They document reality and leave it to the viewers to imagine what was there a moment before, and what will be there a moment after. And what these people are thinking.

When Eyal called the exhibition "Fence or Wall?" I was a little bewildered.

Fence or Wall? The photos show that it is both a fence and a wall. The barriers is partly fence, partly wall, depending on topography.

But the more I thought about it, the more I convinced I became that the question is right. On the practical level, fence and wall are the same. But on the emotional, political and even philosophical level, they are opposites.

A fence if transparent. An ordinary fence does not cut a person off from the landscape, does not separate human beings from each other, does not separate communities from each other, does not evoke feelings of anger and hatred. A fence between neighbors is not a sign of hostility. According to an American saying, "good fences make good neighbors". A bad fence can also make bad neighbors. Either way it is a matter between neighbors.

But a wall is different. It is not transparent. A wall cuts a human being off from the landscape, it separates human beings from each other, communities from each other. A wall is a symbol of alienation, of hatred, of anger. A wall does not create neighborliness, it destroys neighborliness. It severs eye contact, beyond the wall there is nothing.

The monster that is being erected now in the middle of the West Bank is entirely a wall. Even if at many places it is, technically, an electronic fence with trenches and patrol roads an barbed wire, it is a wall.

Beyond all security considerations, beyond the inhuman aspects causing the destruction of the very fabric of life, the Wall is a symbol.

It is a Wall between us and the Palestinian people, between us an the entire Arab world.

108 years ago, Theodor Herzl wrote in the founding document of the Zionist movement, Der Judenstaat, these words:

"In Palestine we shall be a part of the rampart ("Wall" in the German original) of Europe against Asia. We shall serve as the outpost of culture against barbarism." Europe is culture, Asia is barbarism. The Arabs, the Muslims, belong, of course, to the barbaric part of the world.

Now we are fulfilling the "vision" of the "Visionary of the State" (as Herzl is officially designated in Israel). The Israeli bulldozer follows the Israeli tank, in order to cut us off, finally and absolutely, from the region around us.

Against this false vision, this nightmare, we are struggling. We do not want to cut ourselves off. We want to become connected, to integrate ourselves, to belong, to build a life together, to make peace.

This exhibition is a part of the struggle, Eyal Ofer's art is a part of the struggle, the struggle of human culture against the barbarity of racism.

For that, thank you.