Photo by joeskillet via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-2.0)

Most people recognize that the apartheid wall Israel has been building for the past ten years will one day be removed. But few have given serious consideration to how best to recycle hundreds of miles of this “separation barrier.”

Now RighteousJews.org, Gilad Atzmon, and several human rights organizations are offering a significant prize for the best proposal of how to recycle the concrete portion of this wall.

Prize: The initial prize is $1,000, but as paid sponsors are added the prize is expected to increase to $25,000.

Judges: Submissions will be judged by the Board of Advisers of Deir Yassin Remembered, a “balanced” group of human rights advocates, Palestinians, Jews, and others.

How to Apply: Written submissions can be sent to Deir Yassin Remembered, c/o Daniel McGowan, 9 One Mile Point, Geneva, New York 14456 (USA) along with a $25 submission fee, which will be waived if the submitter comes from the West Bank or Gaza.

Deadline: All submissions must be received by January 31, 2014. The winner will be announced the following Deir Yassin Day, April 9, 2014.

Sponsors:

• Righteous Jews.org
• If Americans Knew
• Gilad Atzmon
• Americans for Just Peace in the Middle East
• Deir Yassin Remembered
• Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends

Other sponsors donating at least $250 are most welcome, even Zionist and settler advocates who share the belief that the wall will be recycled.

The RAW Prize is unique within Palestinian/Israeli activism.

First, it changes the narrative from separation to reunification, from racism to universal human rights, from two states to one with equal civil rights for all.

Second, it focuses attention on the enormity and the cost of this instrument of separating the “chosen” from the “children of a lesser God.”

Third, it is forward-looking, not static. It neither condemns nor justifies the wall, but simply looks at what will be come of it in the future.

Fourth, it is “green.” It is not about destruction, but about recycling – recycling for the benefits of humanity. Could houses be made from these huge T-shaped blocks of reinforced concrete? Could breakwaters and coastal erosion projects use such easily dismantled objects?

Fifth, both Jews and non-Jews recognize that the wall will go. Now both can work to recycle it. It promotes activism now, even by those who are not into boycotts and vigils and writing blogs.

Sixth, media attention will be generated as proposals are revealed and as the prize is increased with the addition of new sponsors.