Thread: Fences are not offensive to all, why are we offended?

1. MIDDLE EAST: SAUDIA ARABIA TO CONSTRUCT AN IRAQI BORDER FENCEAdnknronos International.com ^ | September 28, 2006 | Ram/Adnki
Posted on 09/28/2006 2:28:11 PM PDT by WmShirerAdmirer
Riyad, 28 Sept. (AKI) - Saudi Arabia has announced that it is pushing ahead with plans to build a fence along its border with Iraq. The 900 kilometre fence will be build to improve security and bar terrorists from crossing into Iraq, as well as to prevent smuggling. The barricade will cost an estimated 12 billion dollars, and will take between five to six years to construct. A Saudi security adviser, Nawaf Obaid, said: "The main issue is to seal the border on the Iraqi side since there has been almost no [Iraqi security] presence since the US invasion".
Iraqi officials have repeatedly complained about millitants crossing into Iraq from neighbouring countries, to conduct operations against the US-led coallotion forces. Saudi Arabia wants to stop drug smugglers, weapon dealers, and illegal migrants from crossing into the country from Iraq.
Iraqi interior ministry spokesman, Brigadier-General Abdul-Karem Khalaf, said Iraqi officials had heard of the Saudi plans, "and we thank them for it."
Khalaf added: "If the Saudis
A new fence is added to a border town already split
By Hassan M. Fattah The New York Times

Published: October 11, 2006


THE FENCE AT GHAJAR,
Lebanon Little more than a week after Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon, the shiny new fence around the northern portion of this village is a reminder of the possible flash points that remain as Lebanon and Israel continue working to quell tensions across their border.

To the Lebanese, the fence, erected over the past several weeks to separate the northern side of the village from the rest of Lebanon, amounts to a new occupation of their territory, potentially worsening tensions over the disputed Shabaa Farms area nearby. To Israel, which says the fence is only temporary, it is a means of ensuring that Hezbollah fighters do not enter the village, which straddles the border, and attack Israelis.

[On Tuesday, the United Nations continued trying to broker an agreement ensuring that Israel would withdraw its troops from the northern section of the village and place it under United Nations control. But even if that happens, the fence itself might remain for some time, said a United Nations official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with reporters.]

With its pastel-colored homes and scenic views, Ghajar is an old problem sprung from the often complex calculus of the Middle East. In 1932 the residents of Ghajar, most of them from the Alawite sect, were given the option of choosing their nationality and overwhelmingly chose to be a part of Syria, which has a sizable Alawite minority.

When Israel conquered the Golan Heights in the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, the town fell under Israeli control. Many residents were given permits to work in Israel and were eventually granted Israeli citizenship. When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1978, the town began growing northward into Lebanese territory.

The town's future grew more complicated when Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, leaving two-fifths of the town in Israel and the rest on Lebanese soil, across the so-called Blue Line demarcating the borders between the countries.

Each side sought to keep the village whole, said Amin Hotait, a retired Lebanese Army general and the leader of a committee that helped confirm Israel's pullout in 2000.

Neither side, however, could agree on who would maintain control over the village. So after weeks of wrangling, they agreed to divide the town into a northern Lebanese side and a southern Israeli side.

"We did not accept that the whole village be under the occupation, and they did not accept that it be liberated," General Hotait said. "The only result we could arrive at was to split the town in two."

As a result, a fence was built dividing the village, which has about 2,500 residents, with crossing points in between for residents to get back and forth. Although there were Israeli guards posted on the southern side of the fence at the gates, passing from one side to the other was relatively easy. The Israelis were there to guard against Hezbollah fighters.

Yet the village has also been center of confrontations between Israel and Hezbollah. Most recently, in 2005, Hezbollah guerrillas launched a rocket attack on the village and infiltrated it, but were repelled by the Israelis and withdrew.

The latest fence separating the village from Lebanon was put up this summer, after the cease-fire. The Israelis have now posted troops within the northern section of the village.

Lebanese officials say the continued presence of Israeli soldiers on Lebanese soil is a violation of United Nations Resolution 1701, which settled this summer's conflict.

"Whether they're occupying one meter or 2,000, it is still Lebanese land, and we want to free our land," said Fawzi Salloukh, Lebanon's foreign minister. "This is a time bomb that is ticking."

A reporter who traveled to the fence at the northern section of the village tried to speak to residents through the fence, but none would respond. However, United Nations officials in the area said the villagers have sought to be a part of Israel. The dispute appears to be limited to one between countries.

Lebanese officials have said that if the villagers want to be Israelis, they should move to the other side of the border. Residents of the Lebanese villages surrounding Ghajar, still struggling to rebuild their lives after the war, say they fear that the fence may become a recipe for further violence between Israel and Hezbollah.

"This is certainly going to be a big problem, and you shouldn't expect anything less," said Ahmed al-Muhammad, the mayor of the town of Al Wazzan, near Ghajar. "They must have bad intentions for this area, or they would have pulled out completely."

He said his town had had almost no contact with Ghajar's villagers for years. He said the people of Ghajar were mainly interested in their contacts with Israel. The town's growing affluence compared with that of its neighbors is evident in the ongoing construction and modern finished architecture.

Hezbollah officials, who have held up Israel's occupation of Shebaa Farms as a reason to not disarm, have remained mute on the issue of Ghajar, opting to allow the government to negotiate a diplomatic solution. Still, one Hezbollah representative noted, patience is growing thin.

"Like Shabaa Farms, this proves there is an ongoing Israeli occupation and it must leave," said the representative, Hussein Haj Hassan. "We will be patient with the negotiations, but will not wait very long.

According to DEBKAfile and DEBKA-Net-Weekly ’s military sources, the American barrier was well advanced before the Rafah operation began.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources report that the earthwork barrier American engineering units together with US and Jordanian engineering firms are throwing up will stretch 500 miles from the conjunction of the Syrian-Jordanian-Iraqi borders in the south to the Syrian-Turkish-Iraqi border junction in the north.
The first segment is going up in the al Qaim province through which most of the illicit traffic passes from Syria to Iraq at a point opposite the Syrian Jabal al Tanf mountain, at the foot of which Wadi Shal runs from Syria into western Iran. The first project is a bulwark to block this dry river wadi. Next, a barrier will be raised opposite the Syrian town of Abu Kamal where the Euphrates flows from Syria into Iraq. The section from the Jordanian border to the Euphrates will be 200 miles long.
From the Euphrates, the barrier will turn north, traversing regions roamed for thousands of years without hindrance by nomadic Arabs. It will circle round the towns of Mosul and Sinjar from the west and wind up at the point where southern Turkey meets the Iraqi Kurdish town of Zako.
According to our sources, the “wall” will be composed of five elements: A. An earthwork raised at its highest point to 3 meters, tall enough to block the path of four-wheeled drive vehicles. B. Deep trenches to prevent the crossing of light and heavy vehicles, to be dug in places where the earthwork cannot be raised to a sufficient height because of the lie of the land. C. Reinforced concrete cubes to block the many gulches and crevasses riddling the area. D. Water obstacles to obstruct river traffic. E. Electronic sensors scattered along the barrier’s length that will serve the same function as an electronic fence. F. The unit in charge of the barrier’s operation will have the use of a fleet of light spy and surveillance aircraft, helicopter gunships and drones. Its command center and air fleet will be linked to the spy satellites continually orbiting over Syria and Iraq.
US Ground Commander Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who fought hard for the wall, has admitted the structure cannot be completely impermeable. But by obstructing vehicular movement, it can substantially cut down the volume of illicit traffic entering from Syria.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly ’s military experts note that the project shares the same shortcoming as every other American endeavor in Iraq, a chronic shortage of military personnel to man and maintain it against sabotage. The itinerant Syrian-Saudi tribes, who subsist on smuggling and who have been helping Syrian intelligence infiltrate anti-US fighters and weapons into Iraq, have roamed the region unrestricted by boundaries from time immemorial. In just a few weeks, they will suddenly find themselves on either side of a dividing wall. Their first instinct will be to knock it down by one means or another, such as a powerful water cannon that can force a breach in the structure. They will not be deterred by ground or air patrols, any more than the Palestinian weapons smugglers will be halted permanently by any Israeli barrier.



Melilla border fence
2. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Melilla border fence is a separation barrier between Morocco and the Spanish city of Melilla. Constructed by Spain, its stated purpose is to stop illegal immigration and smuggling.
The razor wire barrier cost Spain €33 million (US$35 million) to construct. It consists of 11 km (6 miles.) of parallel 3 m (9.84 ft) high fences topped with barbed wire, with regular watchposts and a road running between them to accommodate police patrols. Underground cables connect spotlights, noise and movement sensors, and video cameras to a central control booth. Its height is currently being doubled to 6 m.
In September and October 2005, during a crisis of mass intrusions of African immigrants camping on nearby mount Gurugú, the Spanish Government decided to double the height of the fence and add devices to harmlessly slow intruders.In October 2005, over 700 subsaharian migrants tried to enter Spanish territory from the Moroccan border. Many of them were shot in the back allegedly by the Moroccan Gendarmerie. Amnesty International and Médecins Sans Frontières have accused the Moroccan government of dumping over 500 refugees in the Sahara Desert without food or water supplies.
Morocco has objected to the construction of the barrier. All other countries consider Melilla to be an integral part of Spain.

Fences and walls to keep people out of cities and/or countries have been around for a long time. There were walls built in Biblical times, you have the Great Wall of China and other countries had walls as to prevent armies from invading them. Then there was the Berlin wall.
What is interesting is that our government's idea is being copied.

Check this out:

http://www.alarmingnews.com/archives/00 ... l#comments

Scroll up to the top of that page.

Damn racist Zambians!

I can't read the printing on the building or the white sign. What I could read about illegals being a threat to peace and security and report them, I agree with 100%.