The bad fence
Avraham Bendor (Shalom)
Haaretz, November 28, 2003
The separation fence that is being built in Judea
and Samaria gives rise to the concern that it will
be of no use. Indeed, it is liable to cause great
harm. The format of the fence is similar to what
the East Germans built to separate the two parts
of Germany. That fence was intended to prevent the
passage of people from east to west, and as such
it was successful. Most of the fence was built in
straight lines, with guard towers every 100
meters, each manned by two policemen, who also
watched over each other to ensure they didn't
defect to the West. There was eye contact between
the towers. There were no passages and no openings
in the fence. Anyone who crossed - with a permit,
of course - had to go to Berlin, where the fence,
or wall, was constructed in a different format
because it was a built-up area.
What's the situation here? To begin with, the unusual
terrain and the geographic conditions will require a
great many soldiers and police to guard and supervise
the fence. Tens of thousands of Jewish settlers, for whom
there will undoubtedly be special arrangements, Arab
workers, merchants and VIPs will pass through openings and passages every day. There will be special openings for fellahin so they can get to their fields, for
schoolchildren and so on. So as not to endanger
the guards at the passages, thorough - meaning
slow - inspections will be necessary. There
will be riots and outbursts at every opening
every day, and clearly there will be attempts
at terrorist attacks, which will kill and maim
people.
In fact, in this situation of so many openings
and passages in the separation fence, and tens
of thousands of people crossing it every day,
why in the world is the fence needed in the
first place? The fence and the passages will
give rise to a giant industry of tricks,
stratagems, forgeries and corruption.
A fence of this kind could have the effect of
increasing terrorism. The Arabs feel
discriminated against and humiliated by the
fence. They are being locked up behind
barriers, their lives are being embittered,
their land effectively plundered. They will see
the settlers going back and forth comfortably,
and their feelings of suppression and
discrimination will reach new depths.
While on the other side, for the settlers, the
dominant feelings will increasingly be the
superiority and superciliousness of the masters
of the land, those with the privileges, over
the Arab natives. It's clear enough that these
manifestations will intensify the internal
dispute among the public and weaken Israeli
society. That will cause serious damage which
must be taken into account.
The fence will thus encourage terrorism and
attacks. The Palestinians in the territories
already have primitive steep-trajectory
weapons, something like a two-inch mortar,
which can fire shells several hundred meters.
In all the sections of the fence that are close
to densely populated Israeli residential areas,
such as the eastern neighborhoods of Kfar Sava,
every such shell will inflict casualties.
There is no need to elaborate on the political
damage that the fence is causing Israel. We can
argue day and night that this is a security
fence, not a political one, but no one believes
us. Not to mention the huge budgets that are
being invested in this harmful and folly-driven
project.
The supporters of the fence point to the success
of the fence around the Gaza Strip. Indeed,
attacks from Gaza have been mainly in the form
of mortars and rockets, rather than suicide
bombers. But that's not the point. The point is
that if the leadership of Hamas wants to send
out suicide bombers, it does so from the West
Bank, because it's easier to operate from
there. If a thief comes to my house and sees
that it has an alarm system, whereas my
neighbor's house doesn't have such a system, he
goes to my neighbor's house. These days it's
easier to use Judea and Samaria as the staging
ground for suicide bombers, so why make the
effort to send them from the Gaza Strip?
Some people claim that the fence should be built
only along the 1967 Green Line and only in the
wake of an agreement with the Palestinians.
That may be so. But when we come to sign such
an agreement, which will obviously be a peace
treaty, it will be preceded by more complex
accords, and maybe there will be no need for a
fence at all.
The writer was head of the Shin Bet security
service from 1980 to 1986.
