Israel's Security Barrier

Authors Avatar

Franziska Salem

900-02-0600

International Relations

Dr. Sherine El Ghatit

Paper, draft 2

Israel's Security Barrier

The idea of a wall or fence separating the Israeli state and Palestine has gained fruit in the past years. While the concept of the wall started with vague ideas, it has now been turned into reality with the completion of the first phase of the wall in the summer of 2003.The Israelis claim that the barrier is necessary because it is the only way of protecting its citizens. Many Israelis have been targets of, and have suffered from, Palestinian suicide attacks. These have increased with the beginning of the Al-Aksa Intifada in the year 2000. This, claim Israeli officials, is sufficient reason for the planned barrier that is supposed to prevent such attacks in the future. Since a number of issues revolve around the erection of the wall its construction is not as simple. While The Israelis insist on the wall being a defense system, Palestinians claim that the planned wall is a way of annexing more of the Palestinian territory. Both, the Palestinian and the Israelis have extremely opposing views on the construction of the wall. The construction of the wall will therefore only serve Israeli interests and will be a definite loss for the Palestinians. Besides being illegally built since the construction of the wall will lead to de facto annexation of occupied Palestinian land, the planned barrier also has a number of negative consequences for the Palestinians. This will make a peaceful solution to the conflict even more difficult.

The Planned Route of the Barrier:

While Yitzhak Rabin won his premiership with the slogan "Us Here, Them There" Ehud Barak endorsed the idea of separation through the slogan "good fences make good neighbors", states Peter Lagerquist who works as a writer and researcher in Palestine and Israel. However this is hardly possible if the land is built on "borrowed" land. The idea of separation is not a new one and the current Premier of Israel, Sharon has now turned an idea into reality with the beginning of the construction of a fence. The idea is to separate Israel from Palestine, in order to achieve security for Israel. Plans of where the fence shall be drawn up have already been made and a section in the West Bank and Jerusalem was completed in August of 2003. The fence is divided into 4 different phases. Phase A has already been completed. Phase A of the barrier mostly runs parallel with the "Green Line;" however, in the south the barrier does not run parallel to the "Green Line" but is built in a way so it can enclose the Israeli settlements built on the occupied land. This has been criticized by many Palestinians, who claim that the fact that the wall does not stay close to the green line is a sign of annexation on the Israeli behalf, reports The Economist. Nonetheless, Israelis insist that the barrier is a safety measure and are planning to continue with the construction of the fence. Gerald M. Steinberg, who works at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, points out three routes that are taken into account: The first is a "maximalist" route that incorporates a large number of the Israeli settlements west of the barrier; the second is a "minimalist" route, generally following the green line and finally the third route which is the middle "pragmatic" route, incorporating the settlement blocs presented at the Camp David summit in July 2000, that includes the major Israeli settlements and security positions adjacent to the "Green Line." Which route the Israelis will materialize is not yet decided and will probably involve the opinion of the United States. However, there are things to be considered when building the fence. While the "minimalist" route is probably the fairest route, phase A of the fence is sufficient evidence that it probably will not be considered: It is already a fait a complis. A reason that will probably contribute to this are the Israeli settlements that have already been constructed beyond the "Green Line" and can therefore only be enclosed by the fence if it follows the "maximalist" or "pragmatic" route, Steinberg claims. The removal of the settlements is not really accepted by most Jews and is therefore probably not going to be initiated. Gershon Baskin, Co-Director of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information in Jerusalem, argues that the withdrawal from the settlements is not planned and that Israel will continue its occupation and the construction of more settlements. The barrier will therefore be built on occupied Palestinian territory in any of the cases. This is condemned by most Palestinians, and when considering the laws that are to be applied to occupied territories, the construction of the barrier is essentially illegal.

Join now!

Article 47 in Section III of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulates:

"Protected persons who are in occupied territory shall not be deprived, in any         case or in any manner whatsoever, of the benefits of the present convention         by any changes introduced, as the result of the occupation of a territory, into         the institutions or government of the said territory, nor by any agreement                 concluded between the authorities of the occupied territories and the                 Occupying Power, nor by any annexation by the latter of the whole part of the         occupied territory."

With the construction of the barrier, Israel will be ...

This is a preview of the whole essay