February 2, 2004|by Jamie Weinstein
Much has been made about the anti-terrorism security barrier that Israel is now building on the West Bank. While criticism is both acceptable and healthy, it should always reflect reality.
One of the most flagrant mischaracterizations is that the barrier is a "wall." Having seen the barrier, I regard this as mostly a mischaracterization. The latest estimates are that the barrier will be less than 10 percent wall when completed, and that may be a high estimate. If so, that means more than 90 percent of it will have to be composed of something else. That something else is chain-link fence, which from what I saw is truly not that intrusive.
Some may wonder why any portion of the barrier at all is wall. Well, there is good reason. I saw firsthand a wall segment that stretched along part of the Palestinian city of Qalqilya, where the city touched one of Israel's major highways. The reason that this portion of the barrier is wall is snipers shoot from Qalqilya at cars traveling along the highway, causing injury and death. Such is the case in other areas where the security barrier is wall.
This portion of wall that I saw, by the way, looked like the sound barriers along I-95 in Florida.
Truth be told, the Israeli government did not want to build the security barrier. The West Bank project was demanded by Israeli citizens. The government knew it would be used as a propaganda tool by those who distort everything Israel does to protect its citizens -- as it has been. It should be emphasized, too, as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has pointed out, that the Israeli government didn't build this barrier, Hamas did. If there were not three years of murderous suicide bombings emanating from the West Bank, there would have been no barrier.
The success of the barrier can already be counted in lives saved. I returned from Israel on Jan. 4. During my two-week stay, there was one suicide bombing, the first successful attempt in Israel proper in nearly three months. More than 30 other attempts were intercepted, however, because Israeli intelligence has been given more time to act, thanks to the completion of the Northern part of the West Bank barrier. For those who still may doubt how successful this barrier will ultimately be, there is a case study for it in Israel. Since 1996 there has been a similar barrier between Israel proper and the Gaza strip. During that time, not a single suicide bomber got into Israel through the barrier. Indeed, only two suicide bombings came from Gaza into Israel proper over the entire intifada thus far. Those two bombers got in legally because they were British citizens with British passports.
There is no doubt that some Palestinians will be inconvenienced by the barrier. In some instances, it will separate families from their farms and children from their schools. Such a situation is not desired by the Palestinians and certainly a humanitarian disaster is not desired by the Israeli people or government; that is why Israel is working to create manned passageways.
At the end of the day, however, one must realize that this barrier is being built because, again and again, the Palestinian Authority has failed to stop terror.
Hopefully, this barrier will send a message to the Palestinian leadership and those within Palestinian society who accept terrorism that they will never get a state as long as terrorism is used as a method of negotiation. When leaders emerge within Palestinian society who truly seek peace and are willing to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure that exists there, then this barrier can be torn down and moved to create a mutually acceptable border. Until then, this barrier will serve its purpose.
Jamie Weinstein is a resident of Palm Beach Gardens and a student at Cornell University.