Security Barrier

After more than four years of violence, including horrific suicide bombings inside Israel, Israelis have justifiably demanded a barrier between Israel and the West Bank. The issue is not whether Israel has the right to build a barrier, but where that barrier should be.

After more than four years of violence, including horrific suicide bombings inside Israel, Israelis have justifiably demanded a barrier between Israel and the West Bank. In addition to making it harder for terrorists to reach Israel, an effective barrier can also improve the prospects for peace, making it more difficult for extremists to use violence to destroy any renewed efforts.

The issue is not whether Israel has the right to build a barrier, but where that barrier should be. A barrier penetrating deep inside the West Bank has little to do with protecting Israel and everything to do with appeasing settlers. Such a route is unsound from a security perspective, extending the barrier's length and increasing the number of vulnerable points. It also increases the cost of constructing it, the number of soldiers required to patrol it, and the number of Palestinians who will be swept inside Israel's
line of defense (and whose lives will be made unbearable in the process). In addition, as has been seen, such a route unnecessarily fuels international outrage and condemnation of an otherwise legitimate security initiative.

Indeed, the Road Map explicitly requires Israel to take "no actions undermining trust, including.confiscation and/or demolition of Palestinian homes and property." Seizing land deep inside the West Bank - even for the construction of the security barrier - raises doubts about Israel's commitment to the Road Map and a viable two-state solution consistent with President Bush's vision. It also undermines support for Palestinian moderates and empowers violent extremists. Israel's Supreme Court recognized some of the problems inherent in the route of the barrier when it ruled in summer 2004 that the route had to be altered to take into account disproportionate hardships inflicted on the Palestinians.

A barrier that follows the pre-1967 border as closely as possible (like the one surrounding the Gaza Strip) will support Israel's security needs, inflict less harm on innocent Palestinians, and preserve the prospects for peace.