Day 8

After our tour of the Titanic exhibit and folk museum, the group met with another former political prisoner, this one being from the Loyalist side. His name was Richard and he was to give our group a tour of the famous Belfast murals covering the city in both the Catholic areas (Fall Street) and the Protestant neighborhoods (Shankhill Road). A large "Peace Wall" separates the two neighborhoods. The wall is about 10 feet of brick and another 10 feet or so of fencing. It is meant to prevent paramilitary groups from lobbing explosives from one neighborhood into the other. The wall is necessary due to the close proximity of the two disparate neighborhoods (the neighborhoods are separated by less than 100 yards). Much like the rest of the murals throughout Belfast, the murals on the Peace Wall are in good condition and do not appear to be tampered with. Visitors are encouraged to leave messages of peace on the wall. I signed and dated the wall myself. John explained that the opposing sides have an understanding of mutually assured destruction when it comes to the murals, so that if a republican mural is tampered with, a unionist mural will be tampered with in retaliation.



The mural I chose to analyze was a mural protesting the existence of "4,400 Palestinian Political Prisoners." Upon first glimpse of this particular mural, I was confused as to why a mural honoring the Palestinians and the Middle East conflict was painted alongside murals honoring the Northern Ireland conflict. Our guide explained the connection. Apparently, Northern Irish republican groups identify with the plight of the Palestinians. This is primarily due to the fact that Israel is supported the British government, but also because they view the conflict in the Middle East as a similar battle over a home territory. Conversely, unionists identify with the Israelis and support British involvement in the conflict. Therefore, the mural protesting the withholding of Palestinian political prisoners signifies both republican sentiment in Northern Ireland as well as its place in a global context.