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COMMENTARY
February 25, 2004
The wall
Why are the Israelis building a wall between themselves and the inhabitants of the West Bank? This is a question that has now been brought before the International Court of Justice in the Hague. (Israel has rejected the court' s jurisdiction.) The attempts of courts at many levels to determine political as opposed to legal questions is a sign of the times. The Israelis know all about it for their own Supreme Court is the world's most active and interventionist. Put simply: Israel is building a "security fence" (it will be a wall only in short sections) because it is the only realistic alternative to depopulating the West Bank. There are reasonable questions worth asking about the route of the wall but it is unreasonable to oppose it "in principle" without offering a practical alternative. Our liberal media repeat and repeat the lie that the wall is designed to separate the Palestinians "from their fields schools and medical services" (I am quoting a standard phrase from Reuters). The truth is the opposite: that in almost every case the wall replaces a more intricate network of roadblocks and barriers which had this effect. Readers of the mainstream press in the West are fairly well insulated from the reality of the continuing Intifadah. Coverage is given to major terrorist hits such as those on Jerusalem's buses but not to the mundane activities. The fact that about five of six suicide bombings are prevented by prior Israeli action is probably unknown to most newspaper readers. Few can appreciate that no suicide bombers have succeeded in launching attacks from Gaza -- around all of which the Israelis already put a security fence. But to understand more fully one must be exposed to the daily incitement to violence from the Palestinian Authority and its media. After Sunday's murder of eight and maiming of 59 in Jerusalem -- the 110th successful suicide bombing since Yasser Arafat launched the current Intifadah in the summer of 2000 and this one performed by the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade affiliated with Arafat's Fatah party -- the perpetrator was immediately lionized as a "shaheed" (martyr) in all Palestinian official media. The Voice of Palestine described the act as merely "an explosive operation" reserving the term "barbaric" for the IDF demolition of the "martyr's house" (the standard Israeli response to suicide bombings intended to erase the financial rewards the bomber's family will receive from Arab charities). It called on Palestinians to take the streets in protest against "racist Israeli threats". And this on a newscast which was preceded by a clip showing a small Palestinian child singing the phrase by stone or by knife I will attack the enemy -- over and over for several minutes. This incitement is constant. And it reflects a society that has been barbarized. While much may be said about the long history behind this degeneration nothing can excuse it. Nothing can be achieved by negotiating with a government for which the Voice of Palestine speaks and no "peace process" can be accepted until the incitement stops. The Israelis must act in self-defence the most basic human right -- which in this case requires them to physically separate themselves from people who are trying to kill them. Moreover the practice of penning in the Palestinians must continue until the Palestinians themselves put an end to their terrorists. This is precisely what the Israelis had to do against the Irgun and Stern Gang in 1948 -- for the very condition of statehood is the consolidation of a single disciplined military force. Now oddly enough Prime Minister Ariel Sharon -- whose own popularity is sinking but who enjoys overwhelming public support for the wall -- has been moved to build it as part of an overall political feint to the left. It is part of an ambitious programme of retreat including the disbandment of many Israeli settlements. What the wall will not do however is offer protection against the increasing use of Kassam rockets more than 200 of which were fired from Palestinian positions in the last year. The Israeli security service Shin Bet has become aware of attempts to upgrade the explosive force of these weapons and arm them with chemical agents. Its director Avi Dichter briefed the Knesset on this yesterday. If that starts happening much more muscular measures will be required including something like another Operation Defensive Shield but larger. This will mean the wall PLUS internal roadblocks searches fire fights and demolitions. Unfortunate but unavoidable. David Warren
© Ottawa Citizen
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