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Israel’s security fence, 8 meters high, 360 km long |
Throughout history, many nations and empires sought to erect fences and barriers of different sorts to achieve certain strategic objectives. In addition, walls, fences or barriers carry a great deal of symbolism. The Berlin Wall and the Great Wall of China are both cases in point. The former was built by the Soviets and East Germans to block out the West and then became a symbol of the Cold War. The latter was used to protect China from the Mongols in the North and also represented China 's achievements as a powerful, mature civilization and later became the icon of a fortress mentality.
The Israeli Army continued to maintain full command of virtually all Palestinian areas of the West Bank . Moreover, despite unequivocal U.S. support and overwhelming military superiority, there was little sense that Israel 's security had been heightened. Indeed, top Israeli military commanders and government officials were speaking openly of maintaining the military occupation of Palestinian cities for many months to enforce an uneasy calm.
The latest Israeli military campaign has left more than 700,000 Palestinians in seven of the eight major cities on the West Bank locked up in their houses under curfew, allowed out to shop frantically for a couple of hours every few days. A million more in surrounding villages are deprived of medical services, schools, work and commerce by the city curfews, along with fences and barriers. The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat remains surrounded by Israeli soldiers and armored vehicles in his ruined headquarters in Ramallah. 2 This comes as a result of Sharon's new policy of seizing and holding on to Palestinian territory, after a bombing operation killed 19 Israelis on June 19 th .
Israel has approved the construction of a proposed 360 km security fence around the West Bank . The first part will extend for 110 km between Kafr Salam and Kafr Qasim along the Western edge of the West Bank . 3 The fence is expected to include trenches, state-of-the-art electronic surveillance systems, concrete slabs, dogs, military personnel and razor wires.
It is expected to cost some $1 million per kilometer, reaching a total of $360 million for the entire project. There is also the cost of evacuating settlements on the other side of the fence and providing alternative housing. According to economics professor, Haim Ben-Shahar of Tel Aviv University , assuming that 40 isolated settlements are evacuated, Israel would have to provide alternative housing for about 5,000 families, at a total cost of about $750 million. 4 Israel has already fenced off the Gaza Strip.
This is expected to create a burden on an already suffering economy. The Israeli Finance Ministry suggests that, since the beginning of the Intifadah, the economy has shown no signs of recovery and has lost an estimated $5 billion in output, along with 75,000 jobs. 5 This does not take into consideration the devastation of Israel 's tourism industry, or the $50 million annual budget allocations for protecting settlements, or the $46 million worth of “bypass roads” currently under construction in the West Bank , along with the $30 million planned for similar infrastructure plans for the fiscal year 2003. 6 In addition, Israel 's latest military incursion in the West Bank has cost it a staggering $600 million, added to an extra $130 million that has been set aside in this year's budget for more days of reserve duty. 7
Israel 's Strategic Conundrum
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| Work progress on the fence |
Classical strategic theory explains the basic problematique of international relations – the security dilemma. This concept suggests that an increase in one state's security automatically decreases the security of others. Hence, by definition, Israel 's fence is intended to increase its security at the expense of its neighbors. One of the basic strategic objectives of the fence is to make it more difficult for Palestinian bombers (so-called suicide bombers by Israel ) to conduct operations in Israeli towns and cities. Hence, its declared function is supposedly a defensive one.
Robert Jervis, explaining the importance of classical buffer zones and trenches, suggests that “anything that increases the amount of ground the attacker has to cross, or impede his progress across it, or make him more vulnerable while crossing, increases the advantage accruing to defense.”8
However, this seemingly defensive posture is masked by the fact that usually states acquire defensive postures as a prelude to offensive action. In other words, states seek to protect themselves first and then wage war afterwards from a more secure position. Churchill reports that in 1936, the German Foreign Minister said: “As soon as our fortifications are constructed [on our Western borders] and the countries in Central Europe realize that France cannot enter German territory, all these countries will begin to feel very differently about their foreign policies, and a new constellation will develop.” 9
Hence, Israel 's security fence could be considered a prelude to more severe Israeli punitive incursions into the West Bank . Given Sharon 's worldview, further Israeli aggression must be expected:
At the core of Sharon 's vision lies his map, which he sees as essential to Israel 's future security. Under Sharon 's plan, Israel would maintain two West Bank “security zones” under its direct control. The wider zone in the east would provide security against invasion (most likely by Iraq) and serve as a buffer between the Palestinian state and Jordan … Sharon 's second envisioned security zone would lie in the western foothills of the Samarian mountains, along the old 1967 border that divided Israel from the West Bank . This western buffer would “widen the narrow waist” of Israel and allow it to control the underground aquifer beneath it, which supplies drinking water to Israel proper. Current Israeli settlements would remain in place – after all they were implanted there (many of them by Sharon himself) for security reasons in the first place… The Palestinians would get control over everything between the two security zones – albeit with severe restrictions on their sovereignty. Israel would control Palestine's borders… as well as its airspace and two or three “lateral roads” connecting the two zones. The new state would be demilitarized, banned from joining military pacts, and committed to cooperating with Israel against terrorism. 10
Having said that, one must note that Israel is not fighting a conventional military campaign, where buffer zones and well-fortified trenches can effectively impede the movement of large troop movements. The Palestinian human bomb, which the proposed fence is trying to deter, has probably been the most effective weapon against Israel during the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Gal Luft, a former Colonel in the Israeli Army, explains this dilemma:
Never in Israel 's history… has so much harm been inflicted on so many by so few. Since the onset of the second Intifada in late September 2000, dozens of exploding humans – Palestinian H-bombs – have rocked the Jewish state and transformed the lives of its people… Increasingly Palestinians are coming to see suicide attacks as a strategic weapon, a poor man's “smart bomb” that can miraculously balance Israel's technological prowess and conventional military dominance… [and] the ability to cause Israel devastating and unprecedented pain. The dream of achieving such strategic parity is more powerful than any pressure to cease or desist… To counter the Iraqi scuds, Israel developed the Arrow, a $2 billion ballistic missile defense system. Against Palestinian H-bombs, Israel can at best build a fence. The suicide bombers are smarter than Scuds, and Palestinians know that even though in Israel today there are more security guards than teachers or doctors, the bomber will always get through. 11
In addition, Israel 's security fence ignores several facts:
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The fence can be bypassed or forgone altogether by determined bombers. Two weeks ago, two Palestinians cut through the electronic fence surrounding Gush Katif. They can also go over the fence in gliders, around it in boats, or under it in tunnels. Mortars or rockets cannot be prevented by the fence. Palestinians have used mortars and locally-made Kassam 1 and 2 rockets in the second Intifadah. 12
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It is useless against armies and missiles. The fence will have no value against modern missiles or warfare techniques should a regional state-to-state confrontation erupt.
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It creates a major problem for Israeli Arabs since many of them are married to Palestinians in the West Bank . As a result, many families will be separated. Also, Arab farmers who have land on the other side of the fence will be out of work. 13 Given the restrictions, the fence is expected to cause a social and economic crisis for Israeli Arabs and Palestinians living directly on either side of the fence.
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It creates problems for many settlers – a politically potent force in Israeli politics. Despite plans for settlement movement and relocation, many analysts say that 140 settlements in the West Bank will remain vulnerable to attacks by Palestinians, since settlers there will find themselves on the “wrong side of the fence.” 14
Palestinians – People Behind Barbed Wire
The fence is expected to have severe consequences on Palestinian lives and will inevitably lead to more frustration and hatred for Israel. As a result, bombing operations are expected to continue. The proposed fence is expected to subject 400,000 Palestinians living in dozens of villages within the buffer zone to direct Israeli occupation. 15
Palestinians will find their freedom of movement severely restricted. Hence, Israel will have a stronger hold on an area that Israel had hoped would be annexed to it, and this would serve the goal of Israeli expansionism and control. It also raises the possibility that “ Israel could one day decide to shut the gates and forgo peace negotiations, leaving the Palestinian people isolated behind the barbed wire.” 16
Moreover, it would further devastate the Palestinian economy. U.N. officials and representatives from donor states assert that the fence, which is intended to prevent Palestinian fighters from entering into Israeli towns and cities, would also restrict the movement of thousands of Palestinians going to work inside Israel . Current unemployment rates in the West Bank are estimated to be more than 60%. 17
As a result of the proposed fence, unemployment rates are expected to skyrocket to unprecedented levels. Shawn Fergusson, Head of the U.N. Economics Unit in Ramallah, explained: “There is a strong relationship between Israeli closures and increased poverty in the Palestinian territories. There were 39,000 Palestinian workers in Israel during the last quarter of 2001. If each worker supports 6 individuals, you can imagine the effect that the proposed fence would have.” 18
Another controversial issue is demarcating a line in Jerusalem . Given that Israeli governments have declared that Jerusalem is the “undivided and eternal capital of Israel ,” the idea of a fence dividing the city is very difficult to accept among Israelis. Also, 35% of Arab East Jerusalem has been transformed into Jewish neighborhoods since Israel occupied the area in 1967. This makes it even more difficult to demarcate boundaries given that Arab and Jewish neighborhoods are so intertwined.
Nevertheless, work is scheduled to begin on the fence soon and it is expected to go through the eastern outskirts of the city. This raises the specter of radicalizing Palestinian Jerusalemites and hence more bombing operations are expected inside Israel.19
Conclusion - The Meaning of the Fence
The proposed fence is the last in a long list of ironclad security measures taken by Israel against the Palestinians. Despite having overwhelming conventional and nuclear superiority over, not only the Palestinians, but any combination of Arab states, Israelis seem so far from achieving their desired goal of security. This is due to the fact that “the Israeli government continues to mistakenly believe it can deny justice to the Palestinian people and at the same time maintain a lifestyle for Israelis that resembles a society at peace with its neighbors.” 20
Moreover, there is also a sense of historical irony to the fence. The declared purpose of Zionism was to create a new relationship between Jews and the rest of the world. It claims to be a movement that sought to end the spirit of the Jewish ghetto in which Jews were dispersed throughout the world and lived amongst themselves as an ethno-religious minority in every state they resided in. The construction of the fence is, in effect, a return to that same ghetto mentality – a self-imposed ghetto. In other words, again, they “want to live among themselves, separate from others, surrounded by a high fence.”21
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