April 14, 2002
NY TIMES
Israel's Security Requires a Sturdy Fence
By EHUD BARAK
EL AVIV — For 18 months now, Israel has been engaged in a war with the Palestinian Authority, which harbors and executes terror in order to achieve its political objectives. This is a bloody struggle against a bitter rival that is ready to murder civilians and tries to turn suicide bombing into a legitimate tool. The aim of the Palestinian terror is not just to kill Israelis but also to break the will of Israeli society in order to dictate a political solution. Israel should never yield to this terror campaign.
The Palestinians should realize that terror could not yield any gain beyond what Israel was ready to negotiate at Camp David in July 2000. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, rewarding suicide terror generates a major risk for the free world as a whole, not just for Israel.
We can win this struggle against terror. That struggle must take place on three levels: the war against terror, the struggle for the moral high ground of international legitimacy, and the efforts to keep unity and cohesion within Israeli society.
For Israel, this struggle involves making clear that our enemy is not the Palestinian people but only Palestinian terror. The focus of our struggle is not on smashing Yasir Arafat to the wall; it is about trying to push the Palestinian leadership toward the resumption of negotiations.
There is an urgent need to shape a coherent Israeli strategy, which is now absent. Such a strategy should be based on three pillars: a tough campaign against terror, an open door for resumption of negotiations and physical disengagement from the Palestinians.
First, there must be a focused and determined campaign against terror from all sources: Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Tanzim, the Security Services of the Palestinian Authority. Any terrorist, in any place, at any time, including those coming out of the Palestinian Authority infrastructure, will be stopped for as long as the Palestinian Authority continues to guide and execute terror.
Second, we should leave open the door for resumption of negotiations, at any moment, without any precondition beyond a complete halt to violence, based on the principles presented at Camp David. If Palestinian terror continues in spite of this opened door, the whole world will know that terror is Mr. Arafat's choice, and he will have to bear the consequences. If the Palestinian leadership is ready to resume negotiations based on Camp David, that will signal a major achievement in the world struggle against terror because an entity supporting terrorism will have been brought back to negotiations without gaining anything by this evil endeavor.
Third, Israel must embark on unilateral disengagement from the Palestinians and establish a system of security fences. Israel's very future depends on this. Only such a border could secure a solid Jewish majority inside Israel for generations to come, and in so doing secure Israel as a democracy and its identity as a Jewish state.
If Israel does not find the way to disengage from the Palestinians, its future might resemble the experience of Belfast or Bosnia — two communities bleeding each other to death for generations. Alternatively, if we do not disengage from the Palestinians, Israel might drift toward an apartheid state. Obviously it is better to reach disengagement by consent through an agreement. But Israel cannot impose a readiness to make peace upon Mr. Arafat. The absence of a partner should not paralyze Israel from taking defensive steps in order to protect its own vital interests, which will determine its identity and future.
The disengagement would be implemented gradually over several years. The fence would take in seven settlement areas — three of them near Jerusalem — that now make up over 13 percent of the West Bank. Currently, within these settlement blocks live 80 percent of the settlers. Israel will also need a security zone along the Jordan River and some early warning stations, which combined will cover another 12 percent, adding up to 25 percent of the West Bank.
We should not formally annex the settlement blocks and the security zone to Israel, in order not to block the possibility of further negotiations on this issue. I would avoid immediate dismantling of all other settlements so as not to reward terrorism or deepen the political divide within Israel over the settlements. However, Israel should make clear its resolve and determination to end its rule over another people. Israel can do this by making an unequivocal commitment that it would relocate isolated settlements into the settlement blocks or into Israel proper within the time frame created by the proposed plan. The freedom of the Israeli Defense Force to act against terror must be maintained as long as there is no agreement.
In Jerusalem there would have to be two physical fences. The first would delineate the political boundary and be placed around the Greater City, including the settlement blocks adjacent to Jerusalem. The second would be a security-dictated barrier, with controlled gates and passes, inside Jerusalem to separate most of the Palestinian neighborhoods from the Jewish neighborhoods and the Holy Basin, including the Old City.
The immediate and long-term result of installing the security fence, with sensors and military forces along it, would be a dramatic reduction in suicide attacks inside Israel. Around the Gaza Strip there is a fence, and there are practically no suicide attacks originating from Gaza.
Israel is engaged in a struggle for its right to live in freedom and security as a Zionist, Jewish and democratic state. We wish to have a negotiated and just settlement with our neighbors based on the principles of Camp David. But we will never yield to terror. So as long as there is no agreement, in addition to fighting terrorism Israel needs to adopt a concrete plan for unilateral separation from the Palestinians.Only in this way, which is consistent with the world's war against terrorism, can there be long-term stability in the Middle East and a better future for all people in the region.
Ehud Barak was prime minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001.
