Dei'ah veDibur - Information & Insight
  

A Window into the Chareidi World

3 Tammuz 5762 - June 13, 2002 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
NEWS

OPINION
& COMMENT

OBSERVATIONS

HOME
& FAMILY

IN-DEPTH
FEATURES

VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR

TOPICS IN THE NEWS

HOMEPAGE

 

Produced and housed by
Shema Yisrael Torah Network
Shema Yisrael Torah Network

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEWS
Construction of Security Fence Underway
by M Plaut and Yated Ne'eman Staf

This is the headline that Israeli political leaders sought as they began immediate work clearing the ground for the first two-kilometer stretch of what is planned as an eventual 360 kilometer barrier to keep terrorists and car thieves out of Israel.

The first stage of the security fence is close to Kfar Salem, near the IDF checkpoint on the outskirts of Jenin.

Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Monday that the first stage of construction is a 100-kilometer barrier between Kfar Salem and Kfar Kassem. According to Defense Ministry estimates, the cost of one kilometer of fencing is around $1 million.

Ben-Eliezer has ordered the project to be approached and developed as a simple physical barrier intended to boost security, and not as if it were a also a political border. In line with this thinking, the IDF's Central Command is responsible for deciding the exact location of the fence based on construction and security needs.

The earth moving work that was to start on Tuesday is to be carried out by Y. Ze'evei, a private company from Haifa. The Defense Ministry will publish tenders for other parts of the work in the coming weeks.

An army spokesman told the Knesset State Comptroller's Committee that the fence will be completed in about a year, and that two contractors have already been hired for the start of the job. Another eight contractors will be hired over the next two months, he said.

Of the total of some 360 kilometers, 52 will be in the Jerusalem area.

The army spokesman said that the fence will have three types of crossing points: Four will be "smart" crossings, like the Karni Junction in Gaza; some will be used by army forces to get into the territories relatively easily; and there will be openings for farmers whose property remains on the other side of the fence.

The Defense Ministry will use land expropriation orders when necessary to take the land needed for the fence, but landowners will be invited to discuss compensation for the land. However the Ministry announced that it will not let the project be held up by a recalcitrant owner.

The fence is planned to be located east of the Green Line, and a number of isolated settlements will be inside of the fence. Other settlements will not be included.

The idea has been discussed for many years, but it was always influenced by the fact that such a barrier is likely to have considerable influence in determining permanent political boundaries.

Right wing politicians have opposed it, arguing that its presence will create a reality that will too easily be translated into a separate Palestinian state on the eastern side, which they opposed. Left wing politicians, who generally back the eventual formation of a Palestinian state, were much more favorably disposed towards the idea.

In recent months, it has become more of a consensus among all sectors as a necessary step in further reducing terrorist incursions from the Palestinian side, especially in view of the considerable success that the fence around the Gaza Strip has enjoyed. After the completion of that barrier, incidents dropped dramatically. On the Lebanese border there is also a similar barrier.

 

All material on this site is copyrighted and its use is restricted.
Click here for conditions of use.