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Rice Asks Sharon to "Rethink" Fence Route
(Ha'aretz) - Aluf Benn U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice Sunday asked Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to reconsider with 'greater sensitivity' the planned route of the separation fence between Israel and the West Bank. Sharon agreed to the request. Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Rice, "250 Palestinian suicide bombers have entered Israel from the West Bank, but not one from Gaza. Building the fence is not a political move, it is a security move." Ministers Yosef Lapid and Avraham Poraz from the centrist Shinui party backed Netanyahu's view. Rice said that the U.S. sees construction of the fence as highly problematic, since the Palestinians see Israel using it to determine political borders and annex Palestinian territory. Even if the fence is a security issue, she continued, it is perceived as being political. Prime Minister Sharon said there is one issue Israel would not compromise on - the security of the country and its citizens, and the fence fulfills a vital security need, even if Israel and the U.S. disagree on its necessity.