Israel issues tender for over 300 homes in West Bank

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 23 October 2003 | YAAKOV KATZ

[monkeyshine]

You build a 25 ft fence to keep out suicide bombers.

[robertpaulsen]

"You build a 25 ft fence to keep out suicide bombers."

If that were the case, Israel would have built it along the Green Line (same effect).

No, the reason Israel is building a 25 foot high concrete wall well into the West Bank is to re-define the border. That's why.

[monkeyshine]

No sir, the 1948 armistice line is just that, and armistice line. It is not a border any more than the 1948 UN line is a border. A border is defined by mutual agreement of the parties that share it and nothing more.

[anotherview]

Let me see if I can get this through your impossibly thick anti-Israeli biased head:

There is terrorism. The 25 foot wall, as you call it, separates the bulk of this Israeli population from the bulk of the Palestinian population who either support or tolerate terrorism.

Israel is at war. This is a war the Palestinians started immediately after Israel made what was previously thought to be an offer more generous than anyone had ever expected. An even more generous offer was made at Taba and the war continued.

Israel, like any government, has a responsibility to protect it's citizens. Israel has two options: prosecute the war to the fullest and subdue the Palestinians. The bloodshed and loss of life would be enormous and would still leave Israel ruling over a large hostile Arab population it has no interest in ruling over. The other option, the fence, is designed to make the terrorism impossible. No suicide bombers have come from Gaza, which is fenced in.

Taking the same approach with the Palestinian populations in Judea and Samaria as in Gaza takes away terrorism as a weapon from them. If they cannot succeed through violence maybe they will realize once again their only option is to negotiate a settelement. Otherwise, well... they can go their own way behind the wall so long as they do not threaten Israel. Either way you eliminate the need for a large IDF presence, roadblocks, and other military actions which make ordinary Palestinians' lives miserable.

So: which do you prefer? Should we let the IDF win the war or should we separate from the Palestinians? These are the only two options open to us.

[anotherview]

No, the reason Israel is building a 25 foot high concrete wall well into the West Bank is to re-define the border. That's why.

Oh, incredibly ignorant one: For the most part the security fence follows the Green Line no matter what you say. Look at a map. The exceptions are areas which Israel does intend to and SHOULD keep. Read the statement from Lord Caradon which you so blithely ignore. The Green Line is not a border. It is an armistice line. It is not defensible. That you choose to ignore the entire basis of UN Resolutions 242 and 338 just shows your bias and your willingness to ignore facts when they are inconvenient to you.

The security fence route is almost identical to what Ehud Barak proposed and what Bill Clinton backed at Camp David. The main exception is Jerusalem, and there is no way Israel or anyone else can share a city with those whom they are at war with.