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June 21, 2002/Tamuz 11 5762, Vol. 54, No. 40
Passions high as West bank fence goes up
LESLIE SUSSER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his defense minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, insist the fence they officially began building this week, along the old border between Israel and the West Bank, is for security purposes only.
But chances are the fence will have major political implications.
Already, right-wing Israelis are accusing the prime minister of restoring the borders that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War. Their public relations campaign dubs this boundary, which leaves Israel extremely narrow at points, the "Auschwitz borders."
Settler leader Yisrael Harel charged on national television that the fence was just a first step in an impending Israeli withdrawal from the entire West Bank.
It was evidence of a defensive, ghetto mentality, and soon Israel would regroup all its forces behind the new line, Harel said.
One of the arguments for settlements in the West Bank was that they would contribute to Israel's security. But the very act of building the fence - and leaving the settlements on the other side - is a tacit admission that the settlements contribute little if anything to Israel's defense.
On the contrary, the existence of the settlements beyond the fence will force the army to allocate considerable resources to defend them.
The settlements' raison d'etre increasingly could be called into question. Movements like the Four Mothers, which pressed successfully for an Israeli army withdrawal from southern Lebanon, may well spring up demanding that the "boys be brought home" from the West Bank, too.
Ironically, the Palestinians also oppose the building of the fence: They denounce it as a unilateral move that shows Israel is preparing to perpetuate the "occupation" of land the Palestinians claim.
Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat went so far as to call the fence, designed to keep Palestinian terrorists from reaching Israel, a manifestation of "racism and apartheid."
Indeed, what concerns the Palestinians more than the fence is the "fence mentality": If taken to its logical conclusion, that mentality could lead to a separation not just between the two peoples but between their economies.
Over a period of years, that could prove disastrous for the Palestinians.
To preempt a fence they don't want, Palestinians may be prepared to be more conciliatory.
On the Israeli side, because of the planned line the fence is meant to follow, Israelis may be more prepared psychologically to withdraw almost to the 1967 border, and recognize a Palestinian state in the evacuated territory.
Leslie Susser is the diplomatic correspondent for the Jerusalem Report.
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