Walls and Barriers Around the World

Amazing what human folly drives us to do. I'm sure that there are lots of rationales for having them, but the real reason is that we are failing to live up to our much-vaunted sapiency.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk Two decades since the Berlin Wall came down, BBC Mundo looks at walls and barriers around the world which are still standing - or have been put up - since 1989. WEST BANK Israel says the West Bank barrier is essential to protect itself from attack but to the Palestinians, it is an "apartheid wall". Concrete controversy NORTHERN IRELAND Designed as a temporary measure to keep fighting Protestant and Catholic communities apart, many "peace walls" are stills standing. Troubled communities SAUDI ARABIA The most powerful economy in the Gulf is building one of the longest, most high-tech security fences in the world, at a cost of $3bn. High-tech frontier CEUTA AND MELILLA Residents of Spain's north African enclaves live behind towering fences, designed to keep out would-be illegal migrants trying to reach Europe. European gateway PAKISTAN-IRAN CYPRUS RIO DE JANEIRO US-MEXICO INDIA-PAKISTAN WESTERN SAHARA BOTSWANA-ZIMBABWE