The great wall of Israel
Nov 24, 2002 – By Yoav Appel, Associated Press

Yoav Appel, at The Associated Press, has reported that Israel has begun construction of its new electronic security fence along the entire West Bank:

Israeli bulldozers flattened ground Sunday for an electronic fence that is planned to eventually run the entire length of the West Bank - a disputed project aimed at protecting Israelis from Palestinian suicide bombers. Those backing the barrier say it does not, in any way, stake out a final border between the Israelis and Palestinians.


Ben-Eliezer, who visited the construction site at Salem Junction on Sunday, said the fence isn’t intended to be a political barrier. ‘It has one and only one clear aim - to defend the lives of Israeli citizens,’ Ben-Eliezer said. ‘Every extra day that passes without the fence being built could cost us more victims.’ At a meeting of Sharon’s Cabinet Sunday, several ministers raised objections. Work on the fence, which is to be part of a system of defensive measures to stop or curb suicide bombers from launching attacks against Israelis from Palestinian areas, will go ahead for now, but the smaller security Cabinet was expected to take up the issue Wednesday.

Sharon, an ardent supporter of Israeli settlement expansion for decades, opposes the barrier for ideological reasons. He reluctantly gave his approval this month. Of the nearly 70 suicide bombings in Israel over the past 20 months, all have been launched from the West Bank, which has no barrier separating it from Israel. Groups that have carried out many of the bombings, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, are strongest in the Gaza Strip. But no suicide bombers have come from Gaza, which is fenced in. Ben-Eliezer said the fence eventually will stretch 215 miles, which is the full length of the ‘Green Line’ - the Israeli border before Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war.
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Yaron said the cost would be close to $2 million per mile. Separately, Israel already is building a fence and trenches around the borders of east Jerusalem to control the flow of Palestinians into the city from the West Bank. Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital, while Palestinians seek the eastern sector for a future capital. Bush, who is expected to address how to advance Mideast peace this week, has not announced whether provisional Palestinian statehood is an idea he intends to push. In Washington, a Bush administration official said Sunday on condition of anonymity that the president was still considering whether to do so.

http://www.securityinnovator.com/index. ... ctionID=27



See Wall;

http://www.war-times.org/issues/7art5.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4657151.stm