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The Security Fence: An Imperative for Israel

(Institute for Contemporary Affairs/Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Minister Uzi Landau - * After 35 years of living with the Palestinians and facing this blatant, ugly, terrorist wave, Israel had no choice but to put up a barrier as an important element in an overall defensive system that would intercept those on their way to blow themselves up among us. * When the Palestinians speak among themselves about occupation, they speak about Israel occupying Tel Aviv and Haifa, not Judea and Samaria. * Palestinian propaganda tries to make the fence the issue, and ignores the issue of terrorism which makes the fence necessary. If not for Palestinian terrorism, we would not need the fence in the first place. * The segments of "wall" comprise about 4 percent of the barrier and were built on the "green line" next to Tulkarm and Kalkilya because, in the past, Palestinians have fired from those areas on Israeli vehicles. * Israel had to weigh the inconvenience of some Palestinians having to pass through gates to reach their fields against seeing Israeli families blown to bits if the fence is not built. Faced with these two alternatives, which is morally more compelling? * It is absolutely natural that over one million Arabs live within Israel today. For those who say Jews cannot live in Judea and Samaria, the immediate conclusion is that Arabs cannot live in Israel. I think they can, and the symmetry should be kept. The writer, a Knesset Member since 1984, serves as Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and previously served as Minister of Internal Security.
2004-01-16 00:00:00
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