An Arab Country Builds a Wall Too

Everybody knows that there has been a great deal of international condemnation of Israel for building its anti-terrorist barrier about twelve years ago. But other countries build walls too for security. Spain built high, especially strong fences around its enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the coast of Morocco. By the way, these two enclaves have been ruled by Spain for more than 500 years. The Spaniards wanted to stop migrants from coming into Ceuta and Melilla. That's why Spain built the fence and that fence has gotten some world publicity, although not as much and not as unfavorable as the publicity for Israel's fence or barrier, often called The Wall.

But Tunisia's wall has hardly gotten any publicity at all. Well, of course, Tunisia is Arab so obviously few journalists will dare to criticize it. But this wall seems to also be motivated by genuine security concerns not altogether different from those  of Israel and Spain. But I only learned about it when I picked up some old articles I had brought home from a trip to Italy in 2015.

We read in Avvenire ("Popotus" 9 July 2015) that Tunisia was building the wall --no doubt finished by now-- because of the chaos in Libya which meant that many many terrorists were able to find refuge there. Apparently the Tunisians too were worried about terrorists crossing the border from Libya. And everybody knew that Arab terrorists kill Arabs too. Not only Jews get killed by Arab Muslim jihadis. The decision to build the wall was taken shortly after terrorists attacked Western tourists on a vacation beach in Sousse, Tunisia. The Tunisian prime minister stated he was building the wall:

"in order to prevent the infiltration of Libyan terrorists onto [our] territory"

[Avvenire 9 July 2015]

The barrier was to be 168 kilometers long along one-third of Tunisia's border with Libya. It was to be finished by the end of 2015.

So how is that? Even an Arab state felt a need to build a wall of its very very own.
So can we hear a little less hypocrisy about Israel's security barrier?

- - - - - - - -
The Spanish enclaves on the Moroccan coast go back to the 15th century.
Ceuta' was taken by Don Juan of Portugal in 1415 and the enclave later passed to Spanish possession under the treaty of Lisbon of 1640. Melilla was taken by Spain in 1497. The small island of Alhucemas just off the coast of Morocco was taken by Spain in 1490, while Arabs still ruled the kingdom of Granada in European Spain. Recall that Arab and Berber [= Moorish] forces conquered most of Spain in the early 8th century.